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Ramsés López
Neither/either in a question
Is possible to use either or neither in a question?. What is the grammar rule? Let me to put an example.

Context: there are two photos in the table.
<ul><li>person A. I’m not the person in the first photo.</li><li>person B. [ Ether/neither] are you the person in the second photo?</li></ul>
19. Apr. 2020 15:49
Kommentare · 9
2
"neither" means "not either". In this question, you have to use "not... either" because of the way this grammar rule works.

Example:
A: I don't drink beer.
B: Do you not drink wine either?


19. April 2020
1
No, they are not interchangeable. The question I wrote can only be formed with "not... either".

I think your best bet is to avoid the word "neither" in questions.

19. April 2020
1
Hey no problem, but nope. You'd have to negate the sentence like I highlighted previously. So "Not in the second photo either?". The word neither wouldn't really work here except in substandard English as a double negative. I can't explain why "neither" by itself without "not" wouldn't work here, but it just wouldn't. Maybe because it'd sound like it's on the wrong end of a "neither... nor" construction.
19. April 2020
1
Then I'd use the word "then" instead of either of "either" or "neither". You can of course always use them in a question, but I don't think they have a good place in your example without modifying it more like "Are you not the person in the second photo either?".
19. April 2020
1
You wouldn't use either or neither in a question like that.

If the person isn't in any of the photos, you could say: "I am not in the first photo. Neither am I in the second one."
19. April 2020
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