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English Grammar: Correlative Conjunctions (NEITHER & NOR, EITHER & OR, BOTH & AND...)

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• published: 28 Sep 2017
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Neither & nor, either & or, both & and, not only & but. These are "correlative conjunctions". You've probably learned to memorize these pairs, but I'm going to teach you to UNDERSTAND when and how to use them. Instead of focusing heavily on grammar rules, join me and we'll talk about the situations where these correlative conjunctions are used in English. You'll learn how these pairs can be used to express choice, surprise, inclusion, or negation. It may sound difficult, but trust me, you'll understand it in no time. TAKE THE QUIZ: https://www.engvid.com/english-grammar-correlative-conjunctions/ USING COMMAS WITH CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdGG2uJt5js TRANSCRIPT Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo. Ex my... "Neither you nor your hairy-ass friend can come to my party!" E! That's so rude. Hi. James from engVid. Today's lesson is going to be on correlative conjunctions, or let's say conjunctive pairs to make it simple. Mr. E made a statement where he said two things using two words to bring two statements together, two related ideas and brought them together. In this case: "you" and "your hairy-ass friend". I want to go to the board and I want to explain the correlative conjunctions to you, because I know conjunctions you've heard of, but this will be a little twist that can add to your English to make it more advanced. Are you ready? Let's go to the board. All right, so E talked about correlative conjunctions, and what I want to do is just go over conjunctions basically to you. Okay? So, conjunctions like: "for", "so", "because", "and", and "or" are easy. You know, they're everyday words. You say them regularly. "My friend and I", "You", or "Him", or "Her". Right? And we use these to join words, clauses, and phrases together. Right? "The people I saw and my best friends were happy." Okay? So, a correlative conjunction is the same kind of thing as, like, your joining statements, but they're of... Sorry. "Of", not "or". Of related information. And when they come together... When I say pairs, it's like imagine a boy and a girl together and they're a happy couple, they work together. Okay? So, "either", "or" is one of the first examples. You've seen "either". Right? Or you've seen "or", but what I want to talk about is "either", "or". In "either", "or" it gives you a choice. "Either you pay me the money now or I break your legs." You have a choice; whether you like that choice or not, it's a choice. The second one is also... Is: "not only", "but also". It's about surprise. In the first case we're saying: "Not only was she happy"-there was a surprise-"but she also got married", there's even more surprise. So, in this correlative pair we talk about the idea of surprise. You put this plus this, there's a surprise, plus more surprise. In our third case we talk about negation. That's what I was talking about, Mr. E here said: "Not you, nor your friend". A lot of students have a problem with "neither", "nor" or "neither", "nor". By the way, they're the same thing. You'll hear people say: "Neither this" or "nor". My idea on that or my take on that is this: A lot of educated people will say: "Neither", and it's more British. And Americans tend to say: "Neither" more. Is there really a grammatical difference? Not at all, but just keep that in mind that if you hear someone say: "Neither" they probably have gone to university, a little bit more educated, and "neither" is just more commonplace. It's not better, it's not worse, it's just a preference in style. Okay? But when you say "neither"... "Neither", "nor", it means not this and not that. It's not a choice. People confuse "either", "or" because you have a choice. This means: This is not true and that's not true, so both are not true anymore. Cool? Keep that in mind. It makes everything negative. And finally: "both", "and" is inclusive or including. You know: "Both my brother and my father love baseball." So I'm taking two, right? "Both", my brother, I am saying there are two parts, and the secondary part is included with the first part, so it's an including. Cool? Now, we've got the basic lesson down. We're going to go to the board, of course you know I'm going to give you a bit of a quiz. I hope you understand. I'll go over it quickly for you once again just in case. "Either", "or" is choice; "not only", "but also" is surprise and it's two surprises, the first case is a surprise, the second one is even more of a surprise; "neither", "nor" is negation, meaning no, x, nothing, no; and "both", "and" is included, so you're including this with that, both she and he were happy. Right? Cool? All right, so once again we're going to do our magic board. Got to do a little bit of a quiz, and I'll give you a little bit extra on conjunctions in just a second. [Snaps]