EITHER AND NEITHER. LESSON, PRESENTATION, ENGLISH

English lesson about either and neither

1. EITHER & NEITHER ​               By Karla Borck                          

2. EITHER & NEITHER Pronunciation - You can say: Either (EE) or Either (AI) and Neither (NEE) or Neither (NAI), they are both correct. But what these two words mean? They represent a choice between two options or deny / refuse these options and you can also use to make an agreement,   but  Do you know what the difference is? Either = selection of one out of two – so either means (one or the other) = either + or Neither = selection of zero out of two - so neither means (none of them) = neither + nor So let’s see how that works

3. “You can have either chocolate ice cream or vanilla – which one would you like”? “We can either go to the party or stay at home and watch a movie .” “Come visit on either Monday or Wednesday .” So “either” means (one or the other ). Also, when someone offers you a choice between two things and you don’t care which one is chosen, you can respond with “either one.” Would you like coffee or tea?      “Either one. Whatever everyone else is having.” It can also be used to say that it doesn’t matter which of two things happens, because the result will be the same: Perhaps the boy was really ill, or perhaps he was just exhausted – “either way they would have to stop.”

4. Now let’s take a look at another example Either Mike or John will help you.    So both of these situations are possible, is possible that Mike will help you or is possible that John will help you.    Now, that’s important to know that only one person will help you in the end ( either Mike or John). There are 3 possibilities, and they mean exactly the same thing: I might say  “Either one will help you” ( either Mike or John will help you). “Either one of them will help you .” “Either of them will help you .”

5. Now let’s talk about “neither”     The thing you need to remember is that Neither is negative     So instead of saying that both choices are available and possible like we did with either, we’re using neither to deny those 2 options, you don’t want the first thing AND you don’t want the second thing, then you can respond with “Neither” or “Neither one.”      And there’s an important change we need to make when using the word “neither”, you have to use the auxiliary “nor” (Neither + Nor). Let’s take a look

6. “ Neither Mike nor John will help you.”     I don’t know why they won’t help you, but they won’t.     That means those 2 choices are not available, John won’t help you, Mike won’t help you.      So “Neither” means (none of them ).     And we have the same 3 options to use the negative, Mike and John are still in the office but they’re just not willing to help you.     So     ”Neither one will help you .” “Neither one of them will help you .” “Neither of them will help you .”   So neither one nor the other is available.

7.     The use of “ neither + nor ” is not very common, “ either ” is more common  but you might read in a book or something like that.      For example “I don’t speak either French or Spanish .”                  Is the same as  “I speak neither French nor Spanish .”      This means I don’t speak French and I don’t speak Spanish.   You could also say   “ I don’t speak either of those languages .” “ I speak neither of those languages .”

8. Now let’s say I invite you to my house for some coffee and I say: Would you like to come over at 10am or 11am? What should you say Well, you could say    “ Either of those times works for me.” Or you can say “ Neither of those times works for me.” These are opposites      If you say “ either ” of those times, that means you might come at 10 or 11 ( you can come at 10 or you can come at 11).       But if you say “ neither” of those times works for me, that means this one doesn’t work and that one doesn’t work.     So that’s the difference between either and neither.

9. Either means (one of them) Neither means (none of them)

10. “Negative statement agreement”            So neither means you’re responding to a negative statement with accordance.        Let’s imagine you’re talking to your friend and he just randomly say: “I don’t speak French .” (I don’t = negative)      How can we answer that, if you don’t speak French either.      We also have 3 options here: “   Me neither.” ( I t’s an informal way, more casual, very common in spoken English)   “ Neither do I.” (that’s the formal way, used in professional language)  A nd you might say: “ I don’t either.” (That’s another possibility, you can say it that way, but is not as common) So when you see the word don’t , you have to use the word either .

11. “I don’t like olives.” Do you like olives? Well, let’s say you don’t like olives What should you say Should you say, me either or me neither: You should say “Me neither .”   “Neither do I.” (which means, I also don’t like olives)   “I don’t either.” (I don‘t like olives either) So if you want to agree with a negative statement, you use neither or don’t either .

12. Let’s look at some other examples  You have a friend and he says: “I don’t like to drive.” How can you agree with him? “Me neither.” ( m e neither works for every negative statement) “Neither do I.” (the auxiliary is do) “I don’t either.”         Now if someone says: “I can’t swim”. You can say  “Me neither.”   “Neither can I.” “I can’t either.”

13.     Now, if you´re talking about another person, you can say,  neither does he, or does she, neither can he, she. - “Kate didn’t come to class today.”      “Bob didn’t either.”                    or      “Neither did Bob.” - “We haven’t booked our tickets yet.”      “We haven’t either.”                     or      “Neither have we.”

14. What about this scenario “I haven’t seen Titanic.” So your friend says: I haven’t seen Titanic and you want to say: “I also haven’t seen Titanic.” You can say “Me neither.” “Neither have I.” “I haven’t either.”  So, use the auxiliary that comes right after the subject. “I don’t have a car.”  (I also don’t have a car) So I can say “Me neither.” “Neither do I.” “I don’t either.”

15. Now let’s fill in the blanks: 1. “Where is Bob”? “He’s ………. in the shower ….. in the garden .” 2.  “I speak ………. of those languages .” 3.  “……….my mother ….. my father likes to travel .” ( Neither of my parents like to travel). “Our president just resigned.” – “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.” 1-    _______________ 2-    _______________ 3-    _______________                                        Awesome job everyone!!!