Neither means many things. It can mean not also, not either, it can connect two negative concepts or ideas, and it is also the name of a heavy metal band from Fort Myers Florida. But, we aren't going to talk about the band today, we are going to talk about the grammar! Please remain calm.

Let's look at the meanings 'not also' and 'not either':

I don't drink hot sauce. Neither does Jason. (Jason and I don't drink hot sauce.)
I don't dance the tango, and neither does my dog. (My dog and I don't dance the tango.)

We usually use this in conversation to add extra information. The second part of the sentence is an afterthought:

I don't drink hot sauce. (I'm thinking... Oh and Jason too!) Neither does Jason.

Look at the following situations:

A: Does anyone drink hot sauce?
B: I don't drink hot sauce. (I'm thinking... Oh and Jason too!) Neither does Jason.

A: Do you and Jason drink hot sauce?
B: (I'm thinking hmm... Jason and I) No, we don't drink hot sauce.

We can also use 'nor':

I don't drink hot sauce. Nor does Jason.

But, in American English this sounds a little strange:

I don't dance the tango, and nor does my dog.

So, in American English don't use 'nor' after 'and.'

Another use of 'neither' is to connect. 'neither' can bring people or things together. It needs 'nor' to connect.  Using neither and nor to connect can help you speak intelligently and more like a human being. So let's look at some examples:

You can connect two adjectives:

I am neither slender nor athletic. (I'm a fat lazy guy.)

You can connect two verbs:

I neither exercise nor leave the house. (I'm a complete geek.)

You can connect two nouns:

I like neither cats nor dogs. (I like chinchillas.)

Now, you can do a lot of connecting, but this sometimes sounds a little formal. Casually, you can say the following:

I'm not slender or athletic.
I don't exercise or leave the house.
I don't like cats or dogs.

Neither can also be used for more than two things:

I like neither broccoli, green peas, nor green peppers. ( I don't really like green things.)

But, 'none' is used more often to talk about more than two things:

None of the green vegetables looks very delicious. (formal grammar)

None of the green vegetables look very delicious. (informal grammar)

Can you use neither or nor in a sentence?  Give it a try in the comments below.

Special thanks to Karenne Sylvester for the idea for this post.  You can visit her at Kalinago English.

Thanks for stopping by.  If you have an idea for a Teacher's Stumpers we would like to hear from you.  Please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your ideas.
Also, you can follow me, Neal Chambers on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn and now Flickr!