1
THE CORRELATIVE
CONJUNCTION
Recognize a correlative conjunction when you find one.
Either ... or, neither ... nor, and not only ... but also are all correlative conjunctions.
They connect two equal grammatical items. If, for example, a noun follows either,
then a noun should also follow or.
Read these examples:
In the fal l, P hil lip will either start cla sses at t he commu nity col lege as
his mot her wis hes or join th e Na vy, his fat her’ s ho pe.
Ne ither the pott ed i vy o n th e cou nter nor t he dirt y di shes in the sink
have en joyed a sing le s plas h of wat er this week.
Pr ofes sor Wils on not on ly re quir es a 3,00 0-wor d resear ch essay but
al so as signs a 5 00-w ord r eac tion pap er e very sin gle week .
Subject-verb agreement can be tricky with correlative
conjunctions.
When you connect two subjects with correlative conjunctions, the second subject
agrees with the verb.
Ev ery sing le e vening ei ther the horn ed o wl or t he s quab bling cats
wake Sa man tha with thei r r acke t.
Ev ery sing le e vening ei ther the squa bbli ng cats or the horn ed owl
wakes S aman tha with it s ra cket .
In the first sentence, cats, a plural subject, is in the second position, so you must use
wake, a plural verb. But if owl (singular) is closer to the verb, then wakes (singular) is
correct.
