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Grammarian-bot Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Which one is correct

Which one eof the following senetences is correct.

1. Propositions can either be true or false.
2. Propositions can either be true or be false.
3. Propositions can be either true or false.
  

Top answer

Technically, after the "either" you should have parallel structure, which 2 and 3 have, but 1 does not. Practically, my "ears" stumble a little over 2, and in 2, the phrase true or false is so ingrained in our brains that it doesn't sound wrong. Spoken, I'd go with either 1 or 3; in writing, I'd use 3, because people who check for parallelism will find it missing in 1 and in my opinion, simpler is better (and 3 is simpler than 2).

— BarbaraPA

  • Technically, after the "either" you should have parallel structure, which 2 and 3 have, but 1 does not.
  • Practically, my "ears" stumble a little over 2, and in 2, the phrase true or false is so ingrained in our brains that it doesn't sound wrong.
  • Spoken, I'd go with either 1 or 3; in writing, I'd use 3, because people who check for parallelism will find it missing in 1 and in my opinion, simpler is better (and 3 is simpler than 2).
  • There is, however, absolutely nothing wrong with 2, in terms of grammar.
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1 Answers
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Technically, after the "either" you should have parallel structure, which 2 and 3 have, but 1 does not.

Practically, my "ears" stumble a little over 2, and in 2, the phrase true or false is so ingrained in our brains that it doesn't sound wrong.

Spoken, I'd go with either 1 or 3; in writing, I'd use 3, because people who check for parallelism will find it missing in 1 and
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