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which is correct grammar? Neither of the boys IS/ARE here.

2007-11-05 16:21:11 · 19 answers · asked by hashbrownies 2 in Education & Reference Words & Wordplay

Or should it be...
neither boy(without "s") IS here. ???

What if i remove "OF",would that change everything?
is "Neither boys is here" correct?

2007-11-06 19:20:04 · update #1

like....
Neither boy a nor boy b is here.
???

2007-11-06 19:20:47 · update #2

19 answers

"Neither of the boys is here" is correct.

2007-11-05 16:43:23 · answer #1 · answered by Gregory B 7 · 4 0

Neither of the boys is here is correct as neither boy is here nor is either boy plural except when they are together in which case they would be here, and we would say both of the boys are here, which is not correct as neither of the boys is here.

2007-11-05 16:41:57 · answer #2 · answered by Form F 4 · 2 0

This debate has been going on for centuries. In speech and in informal writing, "Neither of the boys are here" is often used. But in edited, formal writing, "Neither of the boys is here" is the grammatically correct and preferred usage.

2007-11-05 16:55:35 · answer #3 · answered by True Blue 6 · 2 0

Neither of the boys ARE here

> Are is the correct answer because the word "boys" is a plural word.The subject verb agreement is that if the subject is plural(which in this case is the word "boys") the the verb is plural then the correct word between "is and are" is ARE

> so the word ARE is the correct answer.

2007-11-05 20:10:36 · answer #4 · answered by loiki 2 · 0 4

Whos hotter? Boy George or Krist Novoselic?

2016-11-08 21:27:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Why the husbands think

2017-04-07 08:40:58 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Gals: Do you think you are the most intelligent & smart than the boy ?

2017-04-04 09:22:05 · answer #7 · answered by ? 6 · 0 0

My instinct was to say "are" also. Yet the word "neither" refers to two boys. (If there were more than two boys you would say "none".) In either case, not one of the boys IS here.

Edit - If the speaker had said that (Tom and Bill) are not here. Are would be the word. However, the speaker chose to use the word "Neither," which can only mean "Tom is not here and Bill is not here either. Neither of the boys IS here.
As a matter of interest, we have 9 votes for "are" (voters' average points 768,) and 7 votes for "is" (voters' average points 3,303.)

2007-11-05 16:32:28 · answer #8 · answered by picador 7 · 3 3

Neither of the boys are here.

2007-11-05 16:24:12 · answer #9 · answered by Centrino 3 · 0 2

'Is". The subject is "neither". "of the boys" is a prepositional phrase that modifies the subject "neither". Neither is singular. If it were "Both", then your answer would be "are".

2007-11-05 17:07:07 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4 0

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