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Check your knowledge of either/or and neither/nor.

How To Use Either

We can use “either” to agree with a negative sentence.
For example:
“I don’t know Sue.”
“I don’t know her either.”

We can also use “either” as a short reply when someone gives us a choice.
For example:
“Would you like to visit London or Oxford tomorrow?”
“Either!”

How To Use Either / Or

When you want to give a choice, use “either… or”.
For example:
“We can either leave now and get the earlier train, or leave later but arrive in the evening.”

How To Use Neither

We can use “neither” to agree with a negative sentence, but you need to follow with an inversion afterwards.
For example:
“She doesn’t live in London.”
“Neither does he.” ( = he doesn’t either)
Note: if you have an auxiliary verb in the first sentence, you can use this in the reply. If you don’t, use “do” / “does” / “did”.

We can also use “neither” as a short reply to say that both options are negative for us.
For example:
“Did you buy the book about Picasso or the book about Monet?”
“Neither!” ( = I didn’t buy either book.)

How To Use Neither / Nor

You can use these in sentences with a positive verb.
For example:
“She has neither a car nor a motorbike.” (= She doesn’t have either a car or a motorbike.)

How To Use So

We can agree with a positive sentence using so + inversion.

“I love travelling.”
“So do I.”

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