Hi! I have a question about the inversion after neither/nor.
In this sentence which is the right answer:
I am disappointed with Alex as she neither phoned me nor … me a text message.
A) She sent
B)did she sent
C)she was sent
D)was she sent
I think there shouldn’t be inversion here, but the right answer according to the book is B.
Can anybody explain why B is the right answer?
It isn’t. There is an error there.
I found these sentences in which also there is inversion after nor. Are they correct or ?
No one has volunteered for the job, nor do we expect anyone to volunteer in the future.
Hok-ming cannot speak Portuguese, nor can José speak Cantonese.
The zoo regulations will not permit you to touch the animals, nor would most people advise you to do so.
(source: testmagic.com/grammar/explan … ersion.htm )
They are correct Vod0o.
They have the same meaning as:
No one has volunteered for the job and we don’t expect anyone will.
Hok-ming cannot speak Portuguese whilst Jose cannot speak Cantonese.
Zoo regukations will not permit you to touch the animals and most people wouldn’t advise you to touch them anyway!
So after nor we have to use inversion ? Then why in these sentences there is no inversion:
Neither Chris nor Pat came to the party.
Tom said he would contact me, but neither wrote nor phoned.
(source: English Grammar in Use - Raymond Murphy)
I’m sorry if my questions are stupid, but I really can’t get the difference…
There is no single hard and fast rule about what follows use of ‘nor’ in the way that your are seeking it.
Both sets of examples that you have given are correct. In your second set of examples without the inversion, you have used the term ‘neither…’ and this is always matched with ‘nor…’ In your first set of examples, the ‘nor’ sort of replaces the ‘neither’.
Your questions are neither stupid nor pointless!
Your questions are not stupid, nor are they pointless!
Thank you for your explanation.
So to sum up it appears that when nor is used without neither, after nor there is inversion :?
And about my first post… Is there a right answer to this question or there is an error in the exercise?
Kitosdad answered your first post further up the thread. there’s a typo in the exercise, so none of the provided answers are correct. The correct answer would be ‘did she send’.
So, the right answer do has inversion, the reason it’s incorrect it is just usage of incorrent form of verb (sent instead of send).
Yes, the correct answer when the typo is corrected is:
B) I am disappointed with Alex as she neither phoned me, nor did she send (typo reads sent) me a text message.
Has anyone looked to see if the typo has been corrected?
It’s quite confusing…
Will it be wrong if I say:
I am disappointed with Alex as she neither phoned me nor sent me a text message?
Or the inversion is required when there is a subject:
I am disappointed with Alex as she neither phoned me nor did SHE send me a text message.
but here comes another example:
Neither Chris nor Pat came to the party. <- there is no inversion here:? Is it because the subject after neither is not the same after nor ?
“I am disappointed with Alex as she neither phoned me nor sent me a text message.” is absolutely fine. The ‘did she’ between the ‘nor’ and the 'sent is assumed.
This might help clarify things:
[url]http://is.gd/bHcGm[/url]
Thanks for your help! Things are more clear now.
One more question:
He neither phoned me, nor wrote to me.
He neither phoned me, nor did he write to me.
are they both correct?
I’m glad the linguistic mist is lifting!
Yes, both of your last example are correct, and interchangeable. (The second example simply adds slightly more emphasis to the second phrase in the sentence.)
OK. Thanks again!
That sentence would be more elegant if you did not repeat ‘me’:
That sounds typically American to me! 
I would either have to add a ‘to’ after the word ‘wrote’:
“He neither phoned nor wrote to me.”
or (for preference) leave out the other ‘me’:
“He neither phoned me, nor wrote.”
Gasp!!! Surely you aren’t suggesting that there are any differences between BE and AmE. Haven’t you heard that suggesting such a thing amounts to blasphemy on this site? lol
Seriously, though, your options are also fine to my American ear, Beeesneees.
Ultimately, what it boiled down to for me was one ‘me’ too many in that particular sentence. 
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