Apr 9, 2004 21:44
20 yrs ago
12 viewers *
English term
United States
Professional quality, reasonable prices
Native in: English (Variants: US South, US) 
Works in: German to English
Never... before OR since? or NOR?
English
Art/Literary
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
Grammar question
This is actually a monolingual question:
In the sentence "We have never seen a greater ruler, before or since." is "before or since" correct, or should it be "before nor since"? Both sound correct to me, and I can see arguments on both sides. Does anyone have a definitive answer? By the way, the context is relatively colloquial (a fictionalized retelling of the Gospels), but I still want to follow proper rules where they apply.
In the sentence "We have never seen a greater ruler, before or since." is "before or since" correct, or should it be "before nor since"? Both sound correct to me, and I can see arguments on both sides. Does anyone have a definitive answer? By the way, the context is relatively colloquial (a fictionalized retelling of the Gospels), but I still want to follow proper rules where they apply.
Responses
| 5 +17 | before or since... |
Marian Greenfield
|
Responses
+17
6 mins
Marian Greenfield
Native in English
&
English
Over 30 years in financial translation
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, Portuguese to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
16
Selected
before or since...
never/nor would be a double negative, which English hates.
nor is used only in a few contexts: neither/nor.
never/nor just doesn't work.
I did not do this, nor did I do that.
I never did this, nor did I ever do that.
HOwever, I never jumped out of a plane, either before I turned 40 OR since.
nor is used only in a few contexts: neither/nor.
never/nor just doesn't work.
I did not do this, nor did I do that.
I never did this, nor did I ever do that.
HOwever, I never jumped out of a plane, either before I turned 40 OR since.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Graded automatically based on peer agreement."
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