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#2 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:12 am It cannot, nor it is not. – 'double inversion'? :) |
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Hi Tamara,
Your two examples:
Quote: | It cannot, nor it is not.
Nor it is worth pursuing that the sandwiches at 10 Downing Street were probably very much better than those in The Centenary at Norton. |
sound very odd to me and cry out for inversion. Where do they come from?
A _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Present Simple |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 17284 Location: UK
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#3 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:15 am It cannot, nor it is not. – 'double inversion'? :) |
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Hi Alan,
Quote: | Where do they come from? |
Both are taken from the British National Corpus.
(My own examples are all just 'in spoken'.) _________________ It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water… |
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Tamara I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 1577 Location: UK
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#4 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:19 am It cannot, nor it is not. – 'double inversion'? :) |
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Hi,
They still sound very odd and I believe that not having inversion after 'nor' should be avoided. The only thing I can think of this early in the morning would be a sentence following in parethesis but then requiring inversion later as in:
Nor, it should be noted, would that be acceptable.
A _________________ English as a Foreign Language You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 17284 Location: UK
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#5 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 16:39 pm It cannot, nor it is not. – 'double inversion'? :) |
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Aha... So the rule is strict.
Thanks a lot, Alan. _________________ It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water… |
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Tamara I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 1577 Location: UK
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#6 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 17:49 pm It cannot, nor it is not. – 'double inversion'? :) |
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it's very odd
Maybe it should be:
It cannot be, nor is it. _________________ Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
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Prezbucky I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 2625 Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
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#7 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 17:51 pm It cannot, nor it is not. – 'double inversion'? :) |
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"It cannot be" is a statement to the effect that something cannot happen (in the future or as a rule -- axiom).
"Nor is it" means that it is not (whatever).
Because we're dealing with both present tense and an expectation for the future, this should be stated thusly:
It is not, nor can it be. _________________ Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
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Prezbucky I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 2625 Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
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#8 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 18:01 pm It cannot, nor it is not. – 'double inversion'? :) |
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Quote: | Maybe it should be |
I don't know... :? :cry:
All I did was a search in the BNC with nor it is, because it was the exact part of a sentence I had been actaully confused...
... Have a look:
http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/saraWeb?qy=nor+it+is _________________ It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water… |
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Tamara I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 1577 Location: UK
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#9 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 18:04 pm It cannot, nor it is not. – 'double inversion'? :) |
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the correct order in that phrase is "nor is it..." _________________ Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
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Prezbucky I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 2625 Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
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Can I say "the cows were all milked dry or out"? | Grammar question Why not plus ing-form? |