Saturday, March 14, 2009

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep me from my editing.

At the risk of putting too fine a point on it, I’ll just say that the author of the manuscript I’m currently working on appears to be a northern Norwegian blown my way on the wings of a Nor’easter.

He neither has an understanding of the correct use of nor, nor hesitates to throw in nors willy-nilly.

Apparently either his English teachers got it wrong or he missed the class on the use of nor. Somehow he arrived at the understanding that in choosing between or, or nor, the culprit in question here is always selected if it’s preceded by any negative construction.

Here are a couple of examples: (1) He also had no memory of Palmer nor of Andrews. (2) There is no river nor railroad trestle in the story.

I wouldn't be surprised if the author's kids are named "Nora" and "Norman."