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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > neither - more mistake    

neither - more mistake



anlu79
Germany

neither - more mistake
 
Hello teachers!

Could some of you please comment on that sentence:

�Teenagers are neither spending their money on useless things, nor aren �t they thinking about it. �

Am I right in saying that the second part of this sentence is wrong because you can �t use �nor � combined with a negative form?

Thanks for your feedback :)

15 Nov 2009      





mariaelaine
Malta

Yes it is incorrect.  It should be .......nor are they thinking about it.

15 Nov 2009     



anlu79
Germany

I think he wanted to say that teenagers do think about the way they spend their money.

I think the correct sentence ending should be �nor are they thoughtless about it �, although that sounds a bit weird. !?

15 Nov 2009     



juliag
Japan

This might sound  a little more natural though it �s a bit long:
�Teenagers are neither spending their money on useless things, nor spending it without thinking about what they really want and/or need. �

15 Nov 2009     



Beeya
Italy

I think the correct form should be ... nor do they think about it. I personally don�t see why present continuous is used there, since the phrase should imply a rather general state.
In what regards that they do think about not spending money, I kind of doubt that.

15 Nov 2009     



anlu79
Germany

Thanks for your replies! I think he meant to say that teenagers do think about it, as it was a longer essay and he argued in favour of teens getting pocket-money.

Seems like this neither-nor issue is rather complicated, I �ll have to do an extra lesson on it some time soon.

15 Nov 2009