singular,
because _or_ and _nor_ are disjunctives; and, to form a complete concord,
the nouns ought also to be of the same person and gender, that the pronoun
may agree in all respects with each of them. But when _plural_ nouns are
connected in this manner, the pronoun will of course be plural, though it
still agrees with the antecedents singly; as, "Neither _riches_ nor
_honours_ ever satisfy _their_ pursuers." Sometimes, when different numbers
occur together, we find the plural noun put last, and the pronoun made
plural after both, especially if this noun is a mere substitute for the
other; as,

"What's justice to a man, or laws,
That never comes within _their_ claws."--_Hudibras_.

OBS. 2.--When antecedents of different persons, numbers, or genders, are
connected by _or_ or _nor_, they cannot very properly be represented by any
pronoun that is not applicable to each of them. The following sentences are
therefore inaccurate; or at least they contradict the teachings of their
own authors: "Either _thou or I_ am greatly mistaken, in _our_ judgment on
this subject."--_Murray's Key_, p. 184 "Your character, which _I, or any
other writer_, may now value _ourselves_ by (upon) drawing."--SWIFT:
_Lowth's Gram._, p. 96. "Either _you or I_ will be in _our_ place in due
time."--_Coopers Gram._, p. 127. But different pronouns may be so connected
as to refer to such antecedents taken separately; as, "By requiring greater
labour from such _slave or slaves_, than _he or she or they_ are able to
perform."--_Prince's Digest_. Or, if the gender only be different, the
masculine may involve the feminine by implication; as, "If a man smite the
eye of his _servant_, or the eye of his _maid_, that it perish, he shall
let _him_ go free for _his_ eye's sake."--_Exodus_, xxi, 26.

OBS. 3.--It is however very common to resort to the plural number in such
instances as the foregoing, because our plural pronouns are alike in all
the genders; as, "When either _man or woman_ shall separate _themselves_ to
vow a vow of a Nazarite."--_Numbers_, vi, 2. "Then shalt thou bring forth
_that man or that woman_ unto thy gates, and shalt stone them with stones,
till _they_ die."--_Deut._, xvii, 5. "Not on outward charms could _he or
she_ build _their_ pretensions to please."--_Opie, on Lying_, p. 148.
"Complimenting either _man or woman_ on agreeable qualities which _they_ do
not possess, in hopes of imposing on _their_ credulity."--_Ib._, p. 108.
"_