Neither of us IS, or neither of us ARE… which one is correct? When we use “neither” with a phrase like “of us” or “of them”, do these phrases make “neither” plural? These are questions that many native English speakers don’t even know the answer to, and in today’s video, I wanted to answer these questions so you can feel confident using “neither” in spoken and written English. As I explain in the video, the word “neither” is ALWAYS singular, so we only use singular verbs with it. For this reason, the correct phrase between the two is “neither of us IS.” Here’s an example sentence that shows that “neither” is always singular: I tried on two shirts but neither was the right size, so I didn’t buy them. In this sentence, the singular verb “was” is used because the word “neither” means “not ONE thing, and not the other”, so it only ever refers to ONE thing. However, things get confusing when we use a phrase with “neither” that refers to a group, such as “of us”, “of them”, and “of the houses”, for example. When we put these phrases after “neither”, many native speakers think that they make “neither” plural and would say something like this: I tried on two shirts but neither of them were the right size, so I didn’t buy them. As a native speaker, this is a sentence that I absolutely WOULD say when speaking, but it is NOT grammatically correct because “neither” is singular. So, the correct way to say it would be “neither of them WAS the right size.” It is very common for native speakers to use a plural verb with phrases like “neither of us” and “neither of them” when speaking, so you can do this too, but just keep in mind that it is grammatically incorrect. However, when writing a formal essay or email, I would suggest using a singular verb with these phrases to make sure that your grammar is 100% correct. So, in summary, you can say either one when speaking, but when writing something formal, using a singular verb with these phrases is recommended. Do you know any other common grammar mistakes that natives make when speaking? If so, tell me in the comments! . . . . . #esl #englishgrammar #englishlanguage #learnenglish #speakenglish #practiceenglish #advancedenglish - @your.english.cheerleader