neither .. nor

Question

Hello,1. He hasn't studied English.  He hasn't studied Hindi.I have to  join these two sentences using neither .... nor.A) He has studied neither English nor Hindi.B) He studied neither English nor Hindi.Which one is correct?A child  asked me this question and I told him that (A) is correct. But his teacher has told that remove "hasn't". The child told me that (B) is correct.He gave me an example  like2. He doesn'twatch TV.   She doesn'twatch TV.The teacher told that revove the "doesn't" and write itC) Neither He nor She watches TV.I explained the reason but he was not happy.What would be the simplest way to explain it to him.Thanks.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

QUOTE: "1. He hasn't studied English.

He hasn't studied Hindi.

I have to join these two sentences using neither .... nor.

A) He has studied neither English nor Hindi.

B) He studied neither English nor Hindi."

My answer:

A is definitely correct because it keeps the same tense (present perfect) as the two given sentences: He "has (or hasn't) studied" (present perfect) is very different than "He studied" (simple past)

The child's teacher may have meant to tell students to remove the "n't" part of hasn't -- that is, we remove the negative when we add neither/nor. But that does not make B correct, because to keep the meaning intact, we would retain the "has studied" present perfect structure, then add neither/nor.
Your other example:
2. He doesn't watch TV.

She doesn't watch TV.

Your answer C) keeps the same tense -- a simple present in which we remove the negative when we add neither/nor. So it is correct.
Maybe someone else can be more clear. Good luck! -Sandy

OrlandoEnglishTutor · Answer

I'm not really anonymous. I just wasn't signed in when I wrote that! -Sandy

neither .. nor

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