Either/Neither/Both answers

[sicola at DOLPHIN.UPENN.EDU]

Hello all,

I love the wealth of options and quick response time of this list!

Thanks to all for taking the time to work through my latest query.  To address
a few of your comments: Yes, it would have been easier to give a simplified
option like "nobody studied" but, as someone else pointed out, the focus of the
unit was on uses and arrangements of either/neither/both etc, so it was rather
important to help them understand and learn to control the usage.  Also, they
have - and often use - the grammar references, but this one was a doozie and
they single handedly managed to come up with every exception to the rule. (If
only their regular answers in class were so creative!) ;-)  I agree it's
difficult to succintly - much less simply - delineate the logic behind the
structures, so thank you for making the concerted effort. And (as some of you
may have experienced) it's very easy to talk yourself in circles with this one,
since it's hard to define one term (e.g. "neither") without USING the other
(e.g. "both").  THAT'S where it gets really sticky working with second language
learners.

So again, thanks for all your efforts and suggestions. I used excerpts from
several of your responses, and had (I think) a successful clarification in
class today.

Have a great weekend!
Laura

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