Hi all,
In Murphy’s book I’ve found an exercise where the 1st sentence is transformed to the 2nd one:
1: I haven’t got time to go on holiday. And I haven’t got the money
2: I’ve got neither the time nor the money to go on holiday
Question: why ‘the’ is not used before ‘time’ in the 1st sentence while it’s used before ‘time’ in the 2nd one?
Thanks!
In constructing a sentence, we follow the rule of Parallelism. This is simply maintaining a balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses. Let me give you an example:
“He likes fishing, hunting, and to climb mountains.”
The sentence is listing 3 sports, but does so with two gerunds -fishing, hunting - and then uses the infinitive ‘to climb’. Following the rule of Parallelism, it should be:
“He likes fishing, hunting, and climbing mountains.”
Note that in (1) we have to separate sentences, and so they needn’t follow that rule. But when they are combined into one sentence, we should construct the ‘neither’ phrase the same as the ‘nor’ phrase. Note that in (1), the definite article is used before ‘money’, because, of course, ‘he does have money’, but he hasn’t got the money specifically necessary to pay for a holiday.
So, we have to write “…nor the money to go on holiday”; and so, we have to follow the rule and write, “…neither the time…”
Bazza,
“I’ve got neither time nor money to go on holiday.”
Is it correct?
Bazza: thanks a lot!
Allifathima: After googling for “I’ve got neither time nor money” it turned out that it’s used 8 times more than “I’ve got neither the time nor the money” 
though not sure if it’s applicable in the context of my example.
Hi Tf20,
Could you please tell me on what page this example is?
Thanks in advance.
“I’ve got neither time nor money to go on holiday.”
Is it correct? It is. But the meaning will change when you use ‘the’ before ‘time’ and ‘money’.