Is this correct:
"But her lips ARE not the most beautiful THING on her, neither IT IS her dark EYES, nor her protruding cheeks..."?
You know, because of the plurals and singulars?
I also don't know if I should put "nor" instead of the "neither" because I already have one negation in "But her lips are not the most beautiful thing on her"
Is there maybe some better expression instead of "the most beautiful thing on her" or it is OK?
Sorry, and thank you!
2007-03-03 03:05:47 · 7 answers · asked by sagittarius 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
I have a problem with the "protruding cheeks." We say "high cheekbones" to describe that facial structure which many people find attractive. "Protruding cheeks" makes me think of a chipmunk... not attractive!
As for the rest of your sentence, there are a lot of problems with it, but I can't fix it because I don't really understand what you're trying to say.
The words "it is" refers to "the most beautiful thing," so, yes, it should be singular.
I would say, "Her most beautiful feature is neither her lips, nor her eyes, nor her high cheekbones." Again, I'm not sure if this is the meaning you're going for, but there you go.
2007-03-03 05:41:27 · answer #1 · answered by bedhead 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The last part, I'd just write as "nor her dark eyes, nor her protruding cheeks."
That solves that problem. Or "neither are her dark eyes... etc"
I suppose there's something to be said for the singular/plural issue of the first part you pointed out... perhaps simply replace "thing on her" by "part of her". Lips are definitely a part of someone after all and that would be grammatically correct as well.
2007-03-03 11:22:29 · answer #2 · answered by xane76 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
But her lips are not the most beautiful thing about her, nor yet her dark eyes or her high cheekbones.
Protruding is not a good word for any part of the human anatomy. As far as cheeks are concerned, rosy cheeks and high cheekbones are considered beautiful.
2007-03-03 11:28:05 · answer #3 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's awkwardly phrased because you are dealing with three negatives.
The lips were not her most beautiful aspect. It wasn't her dark eyes or her protruding cheeks...or... [ use or with each clause except last one where you finish with a... but ].
Making two sentences will end the problem with multiple negatives.
2007-03-03 11:27:48 · answer #4 · answered by lyyman 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would say:
...But her lips are not the most beautiful thing about her, neither is it her dark eyes OR her prominent cheeks/cheekbones. ("Protruding cheeks" doesn't actually sound very attractive in English)
2007-03-03 11:23:11 · answer #5 · answered by GrahamH 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
'lips' are plural (we have 2 lips)
when using 'neither' you need 'nor'; when using 'either' you need 'or' [neither nor either or]
'it is her eyes' is correct because you aren't talking about her eyes in the plural form, you are talking about them as one pair, so they are singular. you wrote the sentence correctly.
2007-03-03 11:22:01 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Neither IS IT not IT IS.
2007-03-03 11:10:43 · answer #7 · answered by wheeliemad 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋