Which sentence is grammatically correct?

Castiel said:
"neither" is referring to one or the other....so it is singular.

For example if we expand the sentence:

"Ironically Neither one was from Bristol or Bordeaux", you can see that the use of neither indicates a singular......neither one or the other...etc.

The use of neither denotes the context of the sentence, so it should be

"Ironically, neither of them was from Bristol or Bordeaux"

However, it might be better worded thus:

"Ironically, neither one was from Bristol or Bordeaux"


The normal form is to treat 'Neither' as singular even if followed by a plural noun, pronoun verb etc.....

I wouldn't worry too much about it though as you will see both forms so often that it is academic these days.
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Neither can be dual, but it's the next word that defines its context.

"Neither one " defines a singular as in "each one". So "Neither one was" is correct.

"Neither of them" defines a plural as in "they (collectively)". So "Neither of them were" is correct.
 
djkav said:
Neither can be dual, but it's the next word that defines its context.

"Neither one " defines a singular as in "each one". So "Neither one was" is correct.

"Neither of them" defines a plural as in "they (collectively)". So "Neither of them were" is correct.
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That is not how it works in Standard/Formal English.

In formal subject-verb agreement, Neither/Either are singular and require singular verbs, even if they seem to referring to two things,

For example:

Neither of the traffic lights is/was working.


Which tie do you want to wear?

Either is fine with me.

So formally it remains singular, but as I said colloquially it is commonly refered to in the plural because it can sound strange when the prepositional phrase beginning with of is used.

Neither Sam nor Sue is going to sell the Car. is the same as Neither of them is going to sell the Car.

However informally some might to say:

Neither of them are going to sell the Car

It is known as The Clash between Notional And Actual Agreement.

What you would do in formal circumstances is restructure the sentence, Neither one is going to sell the Car, as I did for the OP example, but informally either is acceptable.

In standard English, neither on its own is used with a singular verb: Do not attempt to bring livestock or plant material into the country; neither is permitted. But in colloquial English, it is completely acceptable to use a plural verb: Neither are permitted. Similarly when neither is followed by of, it is common to use a plural verb: Neither of her parents are alive, but a singular verb is more appropriate for formal writing: Neither of her parents is alive.

When it is followed by nor, the verb agrees with the noun or pronoun that comes after the nor. If this is singular, the verb is singular: Neither I nor your father was told about it. But if it is plural, the verb is plural: Neither the French nor the Italians have qualified for the finals.

If one noun or pronoun refers to a male person and the other to a female person, it is permissible to use a plural verb and plural pronouns, in order to avoid the invidious 'he': Neither Beth nor Tim have collected their tickets.
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so from the dictionary usage extract above, you can see how Formal (standard) English is treated differently from Colloquial (informal) English.
 
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Xordium said:
I would always say 'neither of the traffic lights are working' but hey English is not my first language so what do I know.
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That illustrates what I am saying about the diffetences between informal and formal sentence structure.

I would say for example:

Neither of the traffic lights are working, but then we speak, as rule informally and as such we generally write that way also.

But 'word' will follow the formal rules set by the Subject-Verb Agreement and that is why it rejects that informality.
 
I'd say "was" because you are referring to 2 sets of singles.

Of all the people in the room, no one was a doctor.
Of the two people in the room, neither was a doctor.
 
Castiel said:
That illustrates what I am saying about the diffetences between informal and formal sentence structure.

I would say for example:

Neither of the traffic lights are working, but then we speak, as rule informally and as such we generally write that way also.

But 'word' will follow the formal rules set by the Subject-Verb Agreement and that is why it rejects that informality.
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Meh, too complicated I'll just carry on with illegible scrawl then I can write whatever the hell I want and people will read it however they want to. :p
 
Xordium said:
Meh, too complicated I'll just carry on with illegible scrawl then I can write whatever the hell I want and people will read it however they want to. :p
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:D

Think yourself lucky, I have to sort this kind of thing out for a bunch of languages that people do not even speak that much anymore, if at all.....:eek:
 
The first is correct.

Ironically, neither of them was from Bordeaux or Bristol.

The reason? The subject in this sentence is 'neither', which is a singular word. 'Of them' is the dative, not the subject.
 
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