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I have some issues with this sentence:

I don't know Alex and Marla.

Is it correct to write it like this:

I don't know either Alex or(or it's "nor"?) Marla.

Or like this:

I don't know neither Alex nor Marla.

And another thing:

May I say something like

I don't know Alex nor Marla.

or

I don't know Alex or Marla.

macraf
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Alex
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  • If you have the "I don't" in the beginning, I don't think you would use "neither". "I don't know neither" doesn't sound gramatically correcy. But I believe you could say "I know neither Alex nor Martha" or "I don't know Alex nor Martha". I might be wrong about this though so I'm curious to see what's actually gramatically correct. – Jeremy Fisher Dec 28 '15 at 14:47
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    Oh, thank you FumbleFingers! But could you answer the last two sentence too? "I don't know Alex nor Marla" and "I don't know Alex or Marla"? Because I'm a bit curious if they are correct. – Alex Dec 28 '15 at 14:51
  • When not refers to two or more verbs, nouns, adjectives etc, we usually join them with or: I do not know Alex or Marla. However, we can use nor after a pause, to separate and emphasize a second idea: I do not know Alex, nor Marla. – Færd Dec 28 '15 at 15:33
  • BTW, if you want to address somebody, use "@" before their name; for example: @Sweetie – Færd Dec 28 '15 at 15:36
  • @Sweetie You could add anther option to your question. "I know Alex nor Marla". – Afsane Dec 28 '15 at 19:56
  • @Afsane: I can't see anything in the question text here that's not covered by one or more answers on the original. If you think there's more to say, I suggest you post an answer on that original. – FumbleFingers Dec 28 '15 at 20:47
  • @FumbleFingers But OP in original didn't ask what has been asked here. So, why should we post an answer that is irrelevant to that question? – Afsane Dec 28 '15 at 20:56

1 Answers1

2

I don't know Alex and Marla.

You can negate your "knowing" in at least three ways:

  • I don't know Alex and Marla. [Used, for example, when Alex and Marla are a couple--married or otherwise, and they are kind of lumped together.]

  • I know neither Alex nor Marla. [In English, we avoid the "double negative," so "I don't know neither Alex nor Marla" is not correct. In Spanish, double negatives can be quite correct.]

  • I don't know either Alex or Marla.

There are, of course, virtually endless possibilities if you play around with the basic syntax of the above sentences (e.g., "Alex and Marla? Nope, don't know 'em"), but those are the basic three.

As for

"I don't know Alex nor Marla" and "I don't know Alex or Marla,"

The latter is correct. Moreover, it avoids the "double negative" of "don't know" and "nor" in the former sentence.

Community
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rhetorician
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  • I'm not convinced I don't know Alex nor Marla is "incorrect". Since I don't know X is just the do-supported version of I know not X, it seems to me to be a perfectly valid reduced form of I don't know Alex nor [do I know]* Marla*. In short, I think that's not "non-grammatical". It's just "non-preferred" for most native speakers. – FumbleFingers Dec 29 '15 at 12:50
  • ...I have no problem with You didn't teach me about art, nor about science, for example. Admittedly the presence of the word *about* there helps remind us that we're looking at a reduced version of You didn't teach me about art, nor [did you teach me]* about science, but I think it would be stretching things to say that one is only grammatical because* of that extra word. – FumbleFingers Dec 29 '15 at 12:57
  • @FumbleFingers: You're probably right. Don – rhetorician Dec 29 '15 at 14:00