FOR ENGLISH FANS: Correlative Conjunctions

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Correlative Conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are pairs such as either...or; neither...nor, both...and These conjunctions connect two balanced clauses, phrases, or words.

either . . . or
We can go to either Greece or Spain for our holiday.
It’s my final offer – you can either take it or leave it.
neither . . . nor
Neither Norway nor Switzerland is in the European Union.
Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory. (Abraham Lincoln)

both . . . and
Both rugby and football are popular in France.
Both English and Welsh are spoken in Wales.

Subject-verb agreement

Watch out! The verb which follows two subjects joined by a correlative conjunction must agree with the second subject, NOT the first:

Either my brother or my mum ~~look~~ looks after our cat when we’re away on holiday.
Either my brother or my parents ~~looks~~ look after our cat when we’re away on holiday.
Neither the manager nor his assistant ~~are~~ is here today.
Neither the manager nor his assistants is are here today.

Try these links for some exercises

both...and
Either...or; neither...nor
Multiple choice exercises
Exercises on the correlative conjunctions

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Who am I?

My name is Maria Dulce Branquinho and I teach English in a school not far from Lisbon. I 've been teaching for 35 years now. I love teaching and I love my pupils. I'm very concerned about the environmental problems, namely pollution, animals' rights, species in extinction and everything related to our planet's health or the lack of it.

One of the aims of this blog is to give people, especially my pupils the opportunity to know what's going around the world. Of course I only choose news I think can interest them because they´re odd or are, in some extent extraordinary. The other aim is to provide my students with exercises they can try to practice the English language and be able to improve it. I hope you all like my blog. Don't be shy and leave your comments or if you want you may become one of this blog's followers.

Agatha Christie's short biography

Agatha Christie was born in 1890, the youngest of three children in a conservative, well-to-do family. Her father was called Frederick Miller so she was born as Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. She was educated at home and studied singing in Paris.

In 1914, at the age of 24, she married Archie Christie, a World War I fighter pilot. While he was off at war, she worked as a nurse. It was while working in a hospital during the war that Christie first came up with the idea of writing a detective novel. Although it was completed in a year, it wasn't published until 1920.

In 1926, Agatha made news herself when she disappeared for a few days after her husband wanted a divorce. She was soon found to be staying in a hotel under an alias. Her disappearance is still a mystery! She and Archibald divorced in 1928.

She fell in love with Max Mallowan, a young archaeologist whom she met on a trip to Mesopotamia and married in 1930 and Agatha Christie became Agatha Christie Mallowan. In 1971 she was awarded the high honor of becoming a Dame of the British Empire.

Agatha Christie ultimately became the acknowledged Queen of the Golden Age. She wrote nearly seventy novels in her career and more than a hundred short stories. Her most famous characters are Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Agatha Christie also wrote six romantic novels under the name Mary Westmacott. Several of her works were made into successful feature films, the most notable being Murder on the Orient Express (1974). Agatha's plays have also made her famous and her best known play, The Mousetrap, is most likely the best known mystery play in the world. Her work has been translated into more than a hundred languages. In short, she is the single most popular mystery writer of all time.

Agatha Christie died in 12 January 1976, two years after Max Mallowan died.

Welcome to The world of English!

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Bye, bye

Your English teacher,

Mª Dulce Branquinho

FOR ENGLISH FANS

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Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Correlative Conjunctions

Subject-verb agreement

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