Not~nor / not~or

Question

I do not want to fight nor argue with you about the issue VS. I do not want to fight or argue with you about the issue.I want to say the sentence but I am confused that which conjunction is right in grammar. Could you tell me whether the meaning of the two sentences is the same or not and which conjunction is proper in the sentence? Thank you all the time in advance,

Ivanhr · Accepted Answer

The pattern is

do not + verb + or + verb

or

do not + verb + nor + do + pronoun + verb

I don't want to fight or argue...

or

I don't want to fight nor do I want to argue...

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for the clear answer and I totally agaree with you but I also found these sentences that look different from standard English.

1. He wasn't there on Monday. Nor on Tuesday, for that matter.

2. Not a building nor a tree was left standing.

I think in #1 ".Nor" should be "or" and in #2, "Not" should be "Neither", or is there a different rule applying to these
sentences?

What do you think? Thank you all the time.

Ivanhr · Answer

1. He wasn't there on Monday. Nor on Tuesday, for that matter. ( this is ok; the structure with "nor" is different when followed by a noun phrase as is the case here)

2. This is ok. "or" would be fine too but less emphatic.

Not a building nor a tree was left standing. (more emphatic)
Not a building or a tree was left standing. (less emphatic)

Not~nor / not~or

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