Hi Peter, I wouldn’t say they are completely wrong but they do sound rather unnatural; in practice most English speakers would not use another verb, and though the plural agreement might be more accurate this way it actually sounds less clear. It would be possible to frame the sentence this way if we really wanted to add emphasis to the difference, e.g. if you were speaking in a slow and deliberate manner, but mostly I would not include two verbs like this.

English is not my native language so I do not have this “feeling” about what sounds right and what does not but would following example be acceptable? “Either you are or I am taking dog to the Vet.” and the same for singular / plural scenarios: “Neither requirements are nor the solution is clear.”
Are such formulations completely wrong?

Hi Ahmed,
Sorry for the slow reply as I was away. “either side” would be the correct choice here.
Phil

What’s correct betweens side and sides?

“Are” would be more possible as we have a plural (“parents”), and I’d expect that to be quite common, but you might hear both as “Is” would agree with the closest noun to the verb, being singular (“your friend”).

Hi Margaret,

Apologies, it’s not a point I’ve managed to come back to yet, or that I feel has a simple answer – I sense this is one of those areas where you’ll find people as a whole are largely inconsistent – in the example, I could imagine it’d sound equally natural (or unnatural!) to say “Neither you nor I are eligible” vs “am”, with the plural. On my instinct, I’d probably stick to the general rules for subjects, but I don’t feel the first person “am” fits the construction well – yet it’s not as easy to reorder pronouns for a more natural fit (“Neither I nor you are…” creates an unusual pattern, putting “I” first). I’ll see if any of my textbooks cover this, but I suspect it’s a case where there’s not so much a rule as patterns of use that sound least awkward!

Phil

What is the rule when pronouns are used? Example: Neither you nor I {is/am/are} eligible to vote in Vermont. Do you stick with the rule of using the subject closest to the verb. In this case the example would read: Neither you nor I am eligible to vote in Vermont?

Thanks!