Neither vs either

#shorts

[@binglee2228]

Don’t wanna nobody teach me not use 2 negatives.

[@stevenhamann4344]

I aint never follow those rules

[@englishpathschools]

of course, you don't have to :)

[@AzureSavagery]

I agree with other commenters. Although the double negative can sound awkward in English, it is perfectly grammatically sound. Indeed it was totally normal in Old and Middle English. Many languages, like French, even insist upon negating a sentence in two places.

[@BranoneMCSG]

We don’t teach foreigners how to speak old or Middle English. Modern English doesn’t use double-negatives. In some cases such as this one, it’s easy for a native-speaker to infer what they mean. But you’re just teaching bad habits in the future for how you structure a sentence.

[@AzureSavagery]

@@BranoneMCSG Indeed, you are correct, we do not teach foreigners Old or Middle English (typically). However, my point is whether a double negative is grammatically correct in an English sentence. I would argue that it can be.

[@Andriak2]

You absolutely can say that you dont want neither. It changes it from upperclass polite english to lowerclass or AAVE informal english. Depends which community you are entering

[@BranoneMCSG]

It’s a double-negative and is confusing. You shouldn’t be teaching learners of a language bad practices. When you teach someone a language, it’s best to teach them formal first. Formal has rules and a grammatical structure that carries over to other examples. Slang is something you have to just learn with time.

[@Andriak2]

@@BranoneMCSG There is no ideologically neutral way to teach a topic. I would argue that "you can't use two negatives in a sentance" is an incorrect belief that came from teaching formal language first. We need black english teachers too i guess.

[@BranoneMCSG]

@@Andriak2 What do you mean by ideologically neutral? English has a standard form just as virtually all other languages do. When a foreigner is learning English, the teacher doesn't ask you: "what version do you want to learn: AAVE or upperclass?". They teach you standard English that would be featured in all textbooks and other educational material. Nothing wrong with learning slang and alternative ways of saying stuff as well, but to suggest that it would take precedence over the official standardized form is simply incorrect. Imagine someone who is completelely new to learning what is already one of the most difficult languages in the world, and everytime they are taught a new phrase, they have to try and memorize all the colloquialisms and alternative ways of saying the same thing. It would be needlessly complicated. You're better off just having a go-to version of the language that is based off the one most commonly spoken. Just to clarify my point. If African Americans weren't a minority but instead made up the majority of the natively English-speaking world, then AAVE would presumably become standard. That's just how it works. The most common way of saying something eventually just becomes the official way of saying it. English in its entirety is a great example of this, with all the tweaks that have been made to the language over the years.

[@gumball1216]

I think this video is intended to teach the proper grammatical use of the phrase for people who speak English in a high class setting such as a posh job. At least that's the impression I get from it.

[@kenshi7139]

Ain't nobody observing grammar no more

[@garethmeeten]

Who’s that screaming in the background

[@englishpathschools]

No students were harmed in the making of this video... we swear!

[@capapa5179]

Keep it short and just say "neither thank you", problem solved.

[@BigSirZebras]

None of this shit don't make no sense.

[@englishpathschools]

meaning that it all makes sense?

[@BigSirZebras]

@@englishpathschools No. I am using English in a way that a descriptivist would understand that the video does not make sense. You are taking the prescriptivist view point. Also, if you counted, I used three negatives so even by the "two negatives cancel each other out" rule my statement would still mean the video does not make sense. That said, it is good to teach this to learners of English and if any English speaker is still uneducated enough by high school or beyond that they still use English this way in a formal setting (especially writing) it should be pointed out to them that it is incorrect in such instances. That said, if someone is ignorant enough to point this out in a place where people actually talk this way then there ain't no way to tell you that you might could get your ass whopped for pointing it out.