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My question is related to this one. In the sentence "she couldn't read or write", I am wondering which of the following interpretations is correct?

1) Is it the logical negation of the sentence "she could read or write [or both]", in which case it would mean that "she couldn't read and she couldn't write"?

2) Is it a factorization of "she couldn't read or she couldn't write"? In other words, is it the logical negation of "she could read and write"?

Likewise, how should the sentence "she couldn't read and write" be interpreted?

Thank you.

Community
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Rastapopoulos
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    English is not algebra, and trying to analyze it as if it were will get you in no end of trouble, I promise. The answer is "she could neither read nor write", but it has nothing to do with distributivity or factorization. It's determined by usage, what people most often mean when they say it. – Dan Bron Jan 17 '17 at 10:36
  • Thank you, sounds like good advice. So 1) is the correct interpretation. – Rastapopoulos Jan 17 '17 at 10:53

2 Answers2

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In the case of a statement as in your example then the 'or' implies that both parts are negative. Another example would be 'This house doesn't have a garage or a garden' which would mean that the house has neither a garage or a garden.

In the case of a question the 'or' usually means that either or both can be true. For example 'Does the Chinese lady speak English or German?' could be answered 'English', 'German', 'both' or 'neither'; this would be a question about the best way for Americans or Europeans to communicate with her. However the same question can have a different meaning in the case where there are alternative mother tongues as in "Does she speak Han or Cantonese" would be a question about which was her mother tongue.

For a property the question 'Does this house have a garden or a garage?' could be answered 'A garden', 'A garage', 'both' or 'neither' but the question 'Does this house have a tile roof or a slate roof' could be answered 'Tile', 'Slate' or 'Neither, it's thatched' as it's very unusual to have a house with a roof made from more than one material.

BoldBen
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Or conjunction:

  • is used after a negative verb to mean not one thing and also not another:
    • The child never smiles or laughs.

(Cambridge Dictionary)

It might help to think of the full conjunction pairs of "both…and and either…or."

  • She doesn’t like (either) apples or oranges. (You would not say "She doesn’t like either apples and oranges".)

  • She likes (both) apples and oranges.