Neither

[adam007]

I got confused about 'neither'. In principle it should be singular (at least I was taught this way). However I found something like this (below) - can anybody confirm/deny:

P.S. Please forget the strange use of "apple" and "orange" - it's more for illustrative purposes.

1) "For this receipe, apple or orange can be used, though neither is ideal"

2) "For this receipe, apple and orange can be used, though neither are ideal"

3) "For this receipe, apples or oranges can be used, though neither are ideal"

[Stuart@KaplanGMAT]

All 3 of those are correct.

For both neither/nor and either/or (or just plain "or") constructions, the verb should agree with the LAST noun on the list.

For example:

Neither the players nor the coach WAS happy.

Neither the coach nor the players WEREhappy.

"And" always creates a plural subject, so a plural verb is always required.

[joshi.komal]

Just in addition to what Stuart has pointed out,

either and neither when used alone (without or and nor) then these words are treated as singular and take singular phrase

eg. Neither of the dresses is good.

Stuart please correct my example if incorrect

[jimmy23]

I am new, and planning for Gmat i was confused after reading the question, Thanks stuart and joshi for such a wonderful explanation.

[poonam197]

Dear Stuart,

I understood the explanation given by you. But in the examples below, the use of neither/nor is not there. Please explain logic behind the verb-agreement for each of the below sentences. Thanks !

1) "For this receipe, apple or orange can be used, though neither is ideal"

2) "For this receipe, apple and orange can be used, though neither are ideal"

3) "For this receipe, apples or oranges can be used, though neither are ideal"

[goelmohit2002]

As in the examples above we are using "neither" alone.

Can we use "nor" alone too ? If yes, then can someone please give one example of the same ?