a negative Sentence. When I wrote, in the last paragraph but one, " he was certainly not very reverent in his conduct or in his writ- ings," was I right or wrong 1 ? Ought I to have said, " he was not very reverent in his conduct nor in his writings 1 " We may regard this sentence in two ways, which may be represented by the two following modes of punctuation : 1. "He was not very reverent in his conduct, or in his writings." 2. " He was not very reverent, in his conduct or in his writings." According to the former punc- tuation, "or" is wrong; it should be "nor." But observe that thus we get a somewhat awkward elliptical sentence : " He was not very reverent in his conduct, nor (was he very reverent) in his writings." In the second form of the sentence, "or" is right, and "nor" would be wrong. This will be evident in a moment by filling up the sentence with the other alternative particle, " He was not very- reverent, either in his conduct or in his writings ; " not, " He was not very reverent, neither in his conduct, nor in his writings."
156. We may, if we will, strike out the negative altogether from the part of the sentence containing the verb, and attach it entirely to the alternative clauses. But in
