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Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006"...neither do I have interest in going"
Hi, I'm wondering if the following sentence is correct: "I have never been to Mexico, and neither do I have interest in going." If it is, how about adding "the" before interest? "I have never been to Mexico, and neither do I have the interest in going." Do they have the same meanings? Thanks! -- DJ Not a native speaker of English > I'm wondering if the following sentence is correct: > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Do they have the same meanings? They are semantically identical to me, but neither is idiomatic English, IMHO. You would have to say "have any interest in going" for that "have"-phrase to work. This American-speaker would say something like: "I've never been to Mexico, nor am I interested in going."  SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "Impatience is the mother of misery." > > I'm wondering if the following sentence is correct: > > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > "I've never been to Mexico, nor am I interested in going." Right. And it raises the question of "and" before "neither" or "nor". It seems to me we can choose between "nor" and "and. . . not", but shouldn't mix them. For some reason, though, "and neither" seems sometimes to be justifiable. I can't decide why it feels wrong to me in the example: is it because both verbs have the same subject? "I don't wear pyjamas, and neither does my wife." And that, in turn, puts me in mind of "neither. . . or", which is also common, and also weak in my opinion (yes, I do know it's been used for centuries). SignatureMike. >> This American-speaker would say something like: >> [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > common, and also weak in my opinion (yes, I do know it's been used for > centuries). Here's what Dr. Darling wrote at http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm#nor The conjunction NOR is not extinct, but it is not used nearly as often as the other conjunctions, so it might feel a bit odd when nor does come up in conversation or writing. Its most common use is as the little brother in the correlative pair, neither-nor (see below): He is neither sane nor brilliant. That is neither what I said nor what I meant. It can be used with other negative expressions: That is not what I meant to say, nor should you interpret my statement as an admission of guilt. It is possible to use nor without a preceding negative element, but it is unusual and, to an extent, rather stuffy: George's handshake is as good as any written contract, nor has he ever proven untrustworthy. SignatureSkitt (in Hayward, California) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ DJ <no@nospam.net> had it: > Hi, > I'm wondering if the following sentence is correct: > > "I have never been to Mexico, and neither do I have interest in going." It is, at a push, correct, but it's very stilted and unlikely to have been spoken by a native. > If it is, how about adding "the" before interest? > > "I have never been to Mexico, and neither do I have the interest in going." That is more wrong. > Do they have the same meanings? This would be more colloquial: - I have never been to Mexico and I have no interest in going. SignatureDavid ===== > DJ <no@nospam.net> had it: > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > That is more wrong. But "I have never been to Mexico and neither do I have an interest in going" would be correct and not particularly stilted. >>Do they have the same meanings? > > This would be more colloquial: > > - I have never been to Mexico and I have no interest in going. But slightly less emphatic, perhaps. SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) LFS <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> had it: > > DJ <no@nospam.net> had it: > > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > But "I have never been to Mexico and neither do I have an interest in > going" would be correct and not particularly stilted. Indeed, but even better to me is "... and neither do I have any interest in going". SignatureDavid ===== >LFS <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> had it: > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >Indeed, but even better to me is "... and neither do I have any >interest in going". =YoofE: "Mexico? Not been there. Can't be arsed." SignatureBrad Germolene Brad Germolene <gguiri@yahoo.com> had it: > >LFS <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> had it: > > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > =YoofE: "Mexico? Not been there. Can't be arsed." OmrudE: "I have, of course, been to Mexico". SignatureDavid ===== >> Indeed, but even better to me is "... and neither do I have any >> interest in going". > =YoofE: "Mexico? Not been there. Can't be arsed." "I can't be arsed" does not have the same meaning as "I have no interest". One may have an interest in doing so, but regard the efforts required to be too much to endure or to be overridden by other priorities. Matthew Huntbach >>> Indeed, but even better to me is "... and neither do I have any >>> interest in going". [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >One may have an interest in doing so, but regard the efforts required to >be too much to endure or to be overridden by other priorities. True, but since Da Yoof are interested in nothing at all, I thought it was a good-enough approximation. SignatureBrad Germolene > LFS <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> had it: > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Indeed, but even better to me is "... and neither do I have any > interest in going". That's has added emphasis to me. Now I think about it, that "neither" sounds a bit odd to me. I'd probably say "I've never been to Mexico, nor do I want to go." (I have been there, but only to Nogales, on a very brief shopping trip - not for the prescription drugs that men on street corners were offering, I hasten to add. We were more than a little anxious when we attempted to cross the border back to the US and a sharp-eyed official noted that the date stamp of our original entry into the US was wrong. Having scared us silly, he then gave a shrug, a brilliant smile and waved us through.) SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) >> DJ <no@nospam.net> had it: >> [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >> >> That is more wrong. can you say "more wrong"? I thought you would say "wronger" (not a native speaker). > LFS wrote: >>> DJ <no@nospam.net> had it: [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > can you say "more wrong"? I thought you would say "wronger" (not > a native speaker). This is the preferred way of saying it and would be almost always be used by a native English speaker in a sentence such as "That answer is more wrong than right". No normal native speaker would say "That is wronger" or "That is wronger than right". Despite the so-called rule that single-syllable adjectives take /- er/ to make the comparative, there are instances where this isn't so. It's a question of how it sounds to the native speaker or what is idiomatic or both. I would probably have typed "That is more incorrect" or "That is less correct" had I wanted to sound formal and pedantic, but "That is more wrong" is perfectly okay for this kind of dicussion. SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "Impatience is the mother of misery." dontbother <dontbother@mushmail.mom> had it: > > LFS wrote: > >>> DJ <no@nospam.net> had it: [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > and pedantic, but "That is more wrong" is perfectly okay for this > kind of dicussion. You're not wrong. SignatureDavid ===== > DJ <no@nospam.net> had it: >> I'm wondering if the following sentence is correct: >> >> "I have never been to Mexico, and neither do I have interest in going." > It is, at a push, correct, but it's very stilted and unlikely to have > been spoken by a native. >> If it is, how about adding "the" before interest? >> >> "I have never been to Mexico, and neither do I have the interest in going." > That is more wrong. > This would be more colloquial: > > - I have never been to Mexico and I have no interest in going. It's not colloquial at all, it's rather formal, even a little dated. I think conversational English these days would be more likely to put it: "I have never been to Mexico and I don't have any interest in going" also, unless the speaker is being emphatic, "I have" would become "I've". The second "I" can be droppped. Matthew Huntbach On 22 Nov 2006, Matthew Huntbach wrote >> DJ <no@nospam.net> had it: > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > "I have never been to Mexico and I don't have any interest in > going" I'd have said conversational English would probably be: "I've never been to Mexico and I'm not interested in going." SignatureCheers, Harvey Canadian and British English, indiscriminately mixed For e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van >> the Omrud wrote: >>> DJ had it: >>>> I'm wondering if the following sentence is correct: >>>> [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > "I've never been to Mexico and I'm not interested in going." OK, that's pretty good, and I would put a comma after "Mexico" and add the word "there" at the end. Then it would be something I could say. SignatureSkitt (in Hayward, California) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ On 22 Nov 2006, Skitt wrote >>> the Omrud wrote: >>>> This would be more colloquial: >>>> - I have never been to Mexico and I have no interest in >>>> going. >>> It's not colloquial at all, it's rather formal, even a little >>> dated. I think conversational English these days would be more [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > and add the word "there" at the end. Then it would be something > I could say. Yeah; I think I'd agree with both of those. SignatureCheers, Harvey Canadian and British English, indiscriminately mixed For e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van Thank you all for your replies and fine examples! -- DJ |
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