Are "noth both" and "neither nor" equivalent?

Comments

• LindseyDC Core Member

  January 2020 190 karma

  neither nor = not this and not that, so yes. it essentially means "not both".
• 1 Like

  Jonathan Wang Yearly Sage ⭐

  January 2020 edited January 2020 6869 karma

  Actually, no. Take, for example:

  I don't have both a brother and a sister

  versus

  I have neither a brother nor a sister

  The first says you don't have both. You can have just a brother, or just a sister, or maybe even no siblings. You just can't have both a brother and a sister.

  The second specifically states you have 0 brothers and 0 sisters - so the only possibility is no siblings at all.

  There is overlap between the two concepts ("neither"), but they are not identical.

  Put in more formal logic, neither nor is specifically "not A and not B", while "not both" is "not A or not B", which leaves open the possibility of "not A and not B" but does not require it.