rved by Priestley, and after him by Lindley Murray,
from whom others again have copied the remark: "Sometimes the particles
_or_ and _nor_, may, either of them, be used with nearly equal propriety;
[as,] 'The king, whose character was not sufficiently vigorous, _nor_
decisive, assented to the measure.'--_Hume. Or_ would perhaps have been
better, but _nor_ seems to repeat the negation in the former part of the
sentence, and therefore gives more emphasis to the expression."--
_Priestley's Gram._, p. 138; _Murray's_, i, 212; _Ingersoll's_, 268; _R. C.
Smith's_, 177. The conjunction _or_ might doubtless have been used in this
sentence, but _not with the same meaning_ that is now conveyed; for, if
that connective had been employed, the adjective _decisive_ would have been
qualified by the adverb _sufficiently_, and would have seemed only an
alternative for the former epithet, _vigorous_. As the text now stands, it
not only implies a distinction between vigour of character and decision of
character, but denies the latter to the king absolutely, the former, with
qualification. If the author had meant to suggest such a distinction, and
also to qualify his denial of both, he ought to have said--"not
sufficiently vigorous, _nor sufficiently_ decisive." With this meaning,
however, he might have used _neither_ for _not_; or with the former, he
might have used _or_ for _nor_, had he transposed the terms--"was not
decisive, _or_ sufficiently vigorous."

OBS. 17.--In the tenth edition of John Burn's Practical Grammar, published
at Glasgow, in 1810, are the following suggestions: "It is not uncommon to
find the conjunctions _or_ and _nor_ used indiscriminately; but if there be
any real distinction in the proper application of them, it is to be wished
that it were settled. It is attempted thus:--Let the conjunction _or_ be
used simply to connect the members of a sentence, or to mark distribution,
opposition, or choice, without any preceding negative particle; and _nor_
to mark the subsequent part of a negative sentence, with some negative
particle in the preceding part of it. Examples of OR: 'Recreation of one
kind _or_ other is absolutely necessary to relieve the body _or_ mind from
too constant attention to labour or study.'--'After this life, succeeds a
state of rewards _or_ punishments.'--'Shall I come to you with a rod, _or_
in love?' Examples of NOR: 'Let no man be too confident, _nor_ too
diffident of his own abilities.'--'Never ca