either, have

Question

'I have been very confused why either of Journey's two biggest songs haven't been in GH'Should 'haven't' not be 'has not' and 'either' should be 'neither'?Thanks

Doll · Accepted Answer

My comment:

It is late here and I won't force my brain to understand this sentence but to make a brief explanation I can say that if you compare two things you should say either, and if there are two things you shoud use have.

Anonymous · Answer

Apologies,

It's not my sentence, and it really confuses me, too!

'GH' stands for a computer game called 'Guitar Hero', and the sentence also refers to two songs by a band called Journey.

Anonymous · Answer

Interesting...

When used as a pronoun, either is normally singular and takes a singular verb: The two surgeons disagree with each other more than either does (not do) with the pathologist. But when either is followed by of and a plural noun, it is often used with a plural verb: Either of the parties have enough support to form a government. As frequent as this usage may be, it is widely regarded as incorrect. Ninety-two percent of the Usage Panel rejected it in an earlier survey.

Anonymous · Answer

You could try:

I'm confused as to why not one of Journey's songs HAS been in GH.

Or

I'm confused as to why Journey's two biggest songs HAVE not been in GH.

Goodman · Answer

AnonymousInteresting...

When used as a pronoun, either is normally singular and takes a singular verb: The two surgeons disagree with each other more than either does (not do) with the pathologist. But when either is followed by of and a plural noun, it is often used with a plural verb: Either of the parties have enough support to form a government. As frequent as this usage may be, it is widely regarded as incorrect. Ninety-two percent of the Usage Panel rejected it in an earlier survey.

I agree with you. I thought it should be singular when I first looked at it. This is why English is so crazy! Context is sometime the determining factor as to how similar contents in separate sentence would have different verb/word agreements. These are the examples:

_{Optimizing Programs over the Constructive Reals Abstract Introduction}

Then, when either x or y have too little accuracy. to be output as specified, we recalculate them both. at the next higher precision. We trade off spending ...
_{Political Debate - messages #201419 .18}

I do not think either you or I have sufficient information on which to judge what Blackwater did or did not do and whether or not their actions were correct ...

_______________________________________________________________________

Oh the flip side:
_{TheSabre.com - "The Corner" - General Discussion Message Board Message}

Subject: Either one has no business occuring in a residential neighborhood. **. Posted by: DoubleDown2 on Thu Oct 11 2007 2:19:06 PM. Message: ...
www.thesabre.com/message_board/general/2007/October/11/570461.php - 3 hours ago - Similar pages

_{Captain's Quarters}

Either one has to believe that Supreme Court justices have to be vetted for ideology or that the process should be non-political. ...

I think in the context of Journey's two songs, "either" was used in the context, not neither because of the "two songs" which resulted in (plural verb in negative)"haven't".

When more than one subject is specified in the "either" context, plural form of the verb is required.

Yankee · Answer

Anonymous'I have been very confused why either of Journey's two biggest songs haven't been in GH'

Should 'haven't' not be 'has not' and 'either' should be 'neither'? Neither ... has

Thanks

I'd rewrite the sentence this way:

"I have been very confused why neither (one) of Journey's two biggest songs has been in GH."

Most grammarians will state that the singular verb is correct and required. The word neither is singular. However, people sometimes use the plural instead when they say "neither of the" + "plural noun" (i.e. "neither of the two songs have").

I agree that the wording in the original sentence ("either of the" paired with a negated verb) sounds odd.

either, have

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