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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
plural or singular verb in neither/nor
Hi
I have small grammar problem that no-one seems to be able to help me out with. It concerns the use of neither/nor in a sentence.
Which of the below is correct:
"Neither the Company nor any of the Subsidiaries has received any notice..."
or
"Neither the Company nor any of the Subsidiaries have received any notice..."
I am not sure. According to grammar rules, if any of the elements are in plural form then the plural verb should be used, however the use of "any of the" causes difficulty with the introduction of an indefinite pronoun (which could be used in a plural or singular context). I still have a feeling that because 'subsidiaries' is the plural form of 'subsidiary' that the rule should still be followed and the plural verb should be used. However in some of legal documents I am looking at, a singular verb is used and I am wondering if this is correct or not.
Finally, would this change if the sentence read "Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries have received any notice..."
Any ideas?
edit: Capitalisation of Company and Subsidiares exist becuase they are defined terms in the document I am writing.
I have small grammar problem that no-one seems to be able to help me out with. It concerns the use of neither/nor in a sentence.
Which of the below is correct:
"Neither the Company nor any of the Subsidiaries has received any notice..."
or
"Neither the Company nor any of the Subsidiaries have received any notice..."
I am not sure. According to grammar rules, if any of the elements are in plural form then the plural verb should be used, however the use of "any of the" causes difficulty with the introduction of an indefinite pronoun (which could be used in a plural or singular context). I still have a feeling that because 'subsidiaries' is the plural form of 'subsidiary' that the rule should still be followed and the plural verb should be used. However in some of legal documents I am looking at, a singular verb is used and I am wondering if this is correct or not.
Finally, would this change if the sentence read "Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries have received any notice..."
Any ideas?
edit: Capitalisation of Company and Subsidiares exist becuase they are defined terms in the document I am writing.
Top answer
Neither the Company nor any of the/its Subsidiaries has received any notice. -- the 'any 'determines the singularity of the verb. You are a little off in the rule; the verb concords with the second element: Neither the Company nor the/its Subsidiaries have...
- Neither the Company nor any of the/its Subsidiaries has received any notice.
- -- the 'any 'determines the singularity of the verb.
- You are a little off in the rule; the verb concords with the second element: Neither the Company nor the/its Subsidiaries have...
- Neither its Subsidiaries nor the Company has ...
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2 Answers
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Neither the Company nor any of the/its Subsidiaries has received any notice.-- the 'any 'determines the singularity of the verb.
You are a little off in the rule; the verb concords with the second element:
Neither the Company nor the/its Subsidiaries have...
Neither its Subsidiaries nor the Company
You are a little off in the rule; the verb concords with the second element:
Neither the Company nor the/its Subsidiaries have...
Neither its Subsidiaries nor the Company
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0 In the use of 'neither ...nor', the verb has to follow the preceding noun closest to the verb, so 'Neither the Company nor the Subsidiaries have...', as 'have' must agree with the noun 'Subsidiaries', but when you have 'any of the Subsidiaries', the subject is 'any' with the prepositional phrase 'of the Subsidiaries', so the verb 'has' is correct, to agree with 'any'. 0-
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