English, baby!

either of !!

Date: Nov 06 2007

Author: alshehri2005

Lesson

We use both/neither/either for two things. You can use these words with a noun (both books, neither book etc.).

For example, you are talking about going out to eat this evening. There are two restaurants where you can go. You say:

· Both restaurants are very good. (not ‘ the both restaurants’).

· Neither restaurant is expensive.

· We can go to either restaurant. I don’t mind. ( either=one or the other, it doesn’t matter which one)

Both of... / neither of…/ either of…

When we use both/neither/either + of, you always need the …/ these/ those…/ my/ yours/ his/ Tom’s…. (etc.). You cannot say ‘both of restaurants’. You have to say ‘both of the restaurants’, ‘both of those restaurants’ etc. :

· Both of these restaurants are very good.

· Neither of the restaurants we went to was (or were) expensive.

· I haven’t been to be either of those restaurants. (= I haven’t been to one or the other)

You don’t need of after both. So you can say:

· Both my parents are from London. or Both of my parents….

You can use both of / neither of / either of + us/you/them:

· (talking to two people) Can either of you speaking Spanish?

· I asked two people the way to the station but neither of them knew.

You must say ‘both of’ before us/you/them (of is necessary):

· Both of us were very tired. (not ‘ Both us were…’)

After neither of... a singular or a plural verb is possible:

· Neither of the children wants ( or want) to go to bed.

You can also use both/neither/either alone:

· I couldn’t decide which of the two shirts to buy. I liked both. ( or I liked both of them. )

· ‘Is your friend British or American?’ ‘Neither. She’s Australian.’

· ‘Do you want tea or coffee?’ ‘Either. I don’t mind.’

You can say: Both… and…:

· Both Sara and Abdullah were late.

· I was both tired and hungry when I arrived home.

Neither ….nor…:

· Neither Ali nor Omer came to the party.

· She said she would contact me but she neither wrote nor phoned.

Either… or…:

· I’m not sure where he’s from. He’s either Arabic or Italian.

· Either you apologies or I’ll never speak to you again.

Compare either/neither/both (two things) and any/none/all (more than two):

· There are two good hotels in the town. You can stay at either of them.

· There are many good hotels in the town. You can stay at any of them.

· We tried two hotels. Neither of them had any rooms. / Both of them were full.

· We tried a lot of hotels. None of them had any rooms. / All of them were full.

English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy .............It ‘s so nice !

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gemni5682

Pakistan

how areyou

wana make a friend ship to me

varun_id

India

thanx for making such a good lesson

sunanto

Indonesia

Hello Mouhabat, I;m sunanto.I want to intoduce myself to u.I'm from Indonesia. Iwant u become my chat friemd because i wanna improve my english.answer please. sen to my email addess u somuch