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Would you say:

There is no fire or hot ashes in the fireplace.

or

There are no fire or hot ashes in the fireplace.

And where does that question mark go?

RegDwigнt
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mike
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    Use neither and nor. "There is neither A nor B" is the construction used when you want to say that both A and B aren't there. – Tlacenka Aug 11 '15 at 18:57
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it has a definitive answer at the thread tchrist points to. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 11 '15 at 19:50
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    Wrt the question-mark-after a choice of sentences, you either rephrase, or risk the good-style-is-as-important-as-grammar police and put it where it seems logical: after the second period (and here on a new line after the second blockquote). – Edwin Ashworth Aug 11 '15 at 19:55
  • What question mark? – Brian Hitchcock Aug 12 '15 at 08:27

1 Answers1

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"There's no fire or hot ashes in the fireplace."

Neither "is" nor "are" sounds right. With "there's", you avoid the issue, since many accept that with a plural subject.

Another possibility is:

There is no fire, or hot ashes either, in the fireplace.

This avoids the problem, because the main verb does not agree with something within a parenthetical expression or aside.

Greg Lee
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