Either/Or, Neither/Nor

Quick! Look at the following sentences and identify whether there are any errors.

• Either Janice or Samson are going to have to refill the water cooler.  
• Gerald is not a team player. He neither wants to stay late today nor tomorrow to help with the project.
• Either my computer or my speakers needs to be replaced this year.
• Simone neither wants to eat her lunch or go to a restaurant.

Did you find errors in every sentence? If so, you’ve got a gift for grammar.  If not, don’t worry; correlative conjunctions (either/or, neither/nor) cause some of most commonly made grammar mistakes.  Let’s take a closer look at each sentence to identify the errors.

Either Janice or Samson are going to have to refill the water cooler. 

• The problem with this sentence is that “either” is singular, not plural. It refers to one subject at a time.  Said differently, the sentence would read “Either Janice is going to have to refill the water cooler, or Samson is going to have to do it.” The sentence should read “Either Janice or Samson is going to have to refill the water cooler.”

Gerald is not a team player. He neither wants to stay late today nor tomorrow to help with the project.

• The issue here is a bit more complex. If the action is the same in both parts of the clause (in this case, “to stay” is the action in both parts), then the “neither” or “either” goes after the verb. Corrected, the sentence would read “He wants to stay late neither today nor tomorrow to help with the project.”

Either my computer or my speakers needs to be replaced this year.

• Oh dear. Well, I have just told you that “either” is singular, not plural, so why is “needs” incorrect here?  Look carefully at the subjects. “Computer” is indeed singular, but the word “speakers” is plural. If either of the subjects in the “either/or, neither/nor” clause is plural, the verb must be plural: “Either the computer or the speakers need to be replaced this year.”

Simone neither wants to eat her lunch or go to a restaurant.

• Yikes! This one is a double doozey (and I’m not talking about cookies!)  In this sentence, the action of each thing being compared is different—“to eat” and “to go”. When that is the case, the “either” or “neither” must come right before the first verb. Did you pick up on the second problem?  We’ve got an “or” and not a “nor”! The corrected sentence reads “Simone wants to neither eat her lunch nor go to a restaurant.”