Correlative Conjunctions
Read the sentence given below.
The car either dashed against a dog or a goat. (verb-noun)
This is a bad construction because either is followed by a verb (dashed) and or is followed by a noun (goat). It has to be rewritten as:
The car dashed against either a dog or a goat. (noun-noun)
Another example is given below.
Neither he would eat nor allow us to eat. (noun-verb)
This is an incorrect construction because here neither is followed by a pronoun (he) and nor is followed by a verb (allow). The sentence needs to be rewritten as:
- He would neither eat nor allow us to eat. (verb-verb)
More examples are given below.
- Incorrect: Neither he smokes nor drinks. (noun-verb)
- Correct: He neither smokes nor drinks. (verb-verb)
- Incorrect: She sings not only well but also plays many musical instruments. (adverb – verb)
- Correct: She not only sings well but also plays many musical instruments. (verb-verb)
- Incorrect: She is not only a great singer but also writes amazing stories.
- Correct: She is not only a great singer but also an amazing writer. OR She not only sings well, but also writes amazing stories.
