nor is there/there is

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Chinn_asama: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 77; Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:14 pm; Thanked: 1 times

nor is there/there is

by Chinn_asama » Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:40 am

Hi there

Is the below sentence correct? ....If the 'there' and 'is' trade places, would the new sentence still make sense and convey the same meaning?

";nor is there a system to ensure that the interception of information is logged."

Regards

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:40 am

Jim@StratusPrep: MBA Admissions Consultant; Posts: 2279; Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:51 am; Location: New York; Thanked: 660 times; Followed by:266 members; GMAT Score:770

by Jim@StratusPrep » Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:46 am

Yes, the sentence is correct as is, and no it would not be grammatically correct. I am guessing a bit here, but the clue is in the parallelism with the remainder of the sentence. Whatever comes after 'neither' must be in parallel to what comes after 'nor'.

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ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pm; Thanked: 1443 times; Followed by:247 members

by ceilidh.erickson » Fri Feb 22, 2013 1:14 pm

This is an idiomatic rule with "nor" when it's used to connect two independent clauses. We could say:

There is no food. Also, there is no water.

Alternatively, we could connect these with "nor":

There is no food; nor is there water.

For whatever reason, the subject and verb are inverted in this construction (much like they would be in a question). It would not be correct to use normal subject-verb order here.

Jim is incorrect about the use of "neither," though. In such a construction, when "nor" follows a semicolon, there is no "neither" in the preceding clause. We could (arcanely) say:

Neither is there food nor is there water.

In that case, though, we would not use a semicolon.

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education