---
title: neither — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «neither» in the Early Modern English dictionary: Used to say "not one nor the other"; also used to start a sentence with "not" and "nor" in the old way. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# neither

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Neither, I, man · **What happens:** use, say, start, bear, fly, swim · **To what, where:** sentence, false witness, poor man, cause · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«neither» in the Early Modern English dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [neither in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/neither.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Used to say "not one nor the other"; also used to start a sentence with "not" and "nor" in the old way.

<!-- fold The tree, 22 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:neither:m1:1
# text = Used to say "not one nor the other"; also used to start a sentence with "not" and "nor" in the old way.
1	Used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	ccomp	_	_
7	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	9	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	also	also	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	29	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **use** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **start** | to-infinitive |  | a sentence |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.subeventuality»: agent=Agent sentence=Eventuality with not=Subeventuality |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

<!-- .note -->
From Torah DEU.5.20, JPS 1917.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:neither:x1:1
# text = Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
1	Neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	nsubj	_	_
2	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	4	nsubj	_	_
4	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	false	false	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	witness	witness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	against	against	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | shall | Neither | false witness |  |  |  | against thy neighbour | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent witness=Patient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I can neither fly nor swim.”

<!-- .note -->
From Peter Pan.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:neither:x2:1
# text = I can neither fly nor swim.”
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	6	cc	_	_
6	swim	swim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | can | I |  |  |  |  | neither *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **swim** | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause.

<!-- .note -->
From Torah EXO.23.3, JPS 1917.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:neither:x3:1
# text = neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause.
1	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	nsubj	_	_
2	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	4	nsubj	_	_
4	favour	favour	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **favour** | shall | neither | a poor man |  | man's cause |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **cause** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: poss=agent |

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**Text:** the Early Modern English dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova; its examples quote public-domain texts. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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