Nor

The conjunction nor is still in use, but it is becoming less common. So it might feel a bit odd when nor does come up in speech or writing.

The most common use of nor is in the correlative pair, neither-nor.

• He neither smokes nor drinks.
• He is neither rich nor handsome.
• She is neither industrious nor intelligent.

We can use nor to mean ‘also not’. In this usage, it comes at the beginning of a clause and is followed by inverted word order: auxiliary verb + subject.

• Alice didn’t come, and nor did Ruth.

Note that in American English, nor is not used after and.

Not…nor

Nor can follow not. It is more emphatic than or.

• She didn’t come that day, nor the next day. (More emphatic than ‘She didn’t come that day or the next day.)