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Recently, I was involved in a conversation and said something to the effect of:

"I didn't eat breakfast this morning. I didn't eat dinner last night either".

A. Is this grammatically correct? and if so, B. Why? (Why wouldn't we say "I didn't eat dinner last night neither")

It certainly "sounds correct" to me to use "either", but I don't understand (gramatically) why.

Thanks!

Kris
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Parth Upadhyay
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  • It would be more formal and some might say 'better English' to say Neither did I eat dinner last night. – Nigel J May 29 '18 at 09:05
  • Look here, buddy. Good Luck. https://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/also.html – Kris May 29 '18 at 12:14

2 Answers2

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Beyond their role as correlative conjunctions in either/or, neither/nor, both either and neither can function as pronouns:

Cooperation between these two cultures of biomedical research is the only hope for clinical and basic biomedical science, and neither can exist without the other, contrary to what either may wish. — Bradley P. Fuhrman, Jerry J. Zimmerman, Pediatric Critical Care E-Book, 2011, 51.

Both can modify nouns — and even the pronoun one — like adjectives:

Although neither worker observed the FC rules concerning face masks, the medical histories point against any link between the condition of either worker and any exposure to 2,4.5-T [Agent Orange]. Current Status of Agent Orange Studies, 1981.

Morgan had little faith in either one. “Neither one of them has a clue about what's about to happen. Doc, I don't care what it takes. I need to stay.” — John Martin Recovery, 2010, 254.

In standard English, however, only either can function as an adverb, meaning ‘also, as well, to the same degree’ with a preceding negative expression. It comes in clause-final position:

This stance, he admits, suggests that individuals could, in principle, not really live aesthetically, but yet not live ethically either. — Robert L. Perkins, ed., International Kierkegaard Commentary: Either/or, Part 2, 2003, 160.

In non-standard dialects or colloquial speech that permits double negation, neither can be used in the same fashion:

“Mama says she don't need her worthless brothers, so we don't, neither.” — Marilyn Pappano, Undercover in Copper Lake, 2014, 61.

Community
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KarlG
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When it comes to English language, you can't use more than one negation in a sentence. We can describe "neither" as the negative form of "either" and since it's been already used a negative from of the verb "did", "either" will properly fit.

Alessio Scarascia
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    I was under the impression that it was not unheard of to use more than one negative in an English sentence. – Nigel J May 29 '18 at 09:02
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    Although in this case your answer is correct, to rule out double negatives altogether is a pretty big overstatement. Take a look at https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/31667/are-double-negatives-ever-appropriate-in-english for counterexamples. – BittersweetNostalgia May 29 '18 at 09:06
  • @BittersweetNostalgia: With such tiny exceptions as listed there, "pretty big overstatement" is a pretty big overstatement. – KarlG May 29 '18 at 10:04
  • @KarlG Haha, that's true! – BittersweetNostalgia May 29 '18 at 11:41