jects, of different persons, are connected by
adversative or disjunctive conjunctions, the verb usually agrees with
the pronoun nearest to it; for example,--

Neither you nor I _should_ be a bit the better or wiser.--RUSKIN.

If she or you _are_ resolved to be miserable.--GOLDSMITH.

Nothing which Mr. Pattison or I _have_ said.--M. ARNOLD.

Not Altamont, but thou, _hadst_ been my lord.--ROWE.

Not I, but thou, his blood _dost_ shed.--BYRON.

This construction is at the best a little awkward. It is avoided
either by using a verb which has no forms for person (as, "He or I
_can_ go," "She or you _may_ be sure," etc.), or by rearranging the
sentence so as to throw each subject before its proper person form
(as, "You _would_ not be wiser, nor _should_ I;" or, "I _have_ never
said so, nor _has_ she").

[Sidenote: _Exceptional examples_.]

445. The following illustrate exceptional usage, which it is proper
to mention; but the student is cautioned to follow the regular usage
rather than the unusual and irregular.

Exercise.

Change each of the following sentences to accord with standard usage,
as illustrated above (Secs. 440-444):--

1. And sharp Adversity will teach at last
Man,--and, as we would hope,--perhaps the devil,
That neither of their intellects are vast.
--BYRON.

2. Neither of them, in my opinion, give so accurate an idea of
the man as a statuette in bronze.--TROLLOPE.

3. How each of these professions are crowded.--ADDISON.

4. Neither of their counselors were to be present.--_Id._

5. Either of them are equally good to the person to whom they are
significant.--EMERSON.

6. Neither the red nor the white are strong and glaring.--BURKE.

7. A lampoon or a satire do not carry in them robbery or
murder.--ADDISON.

8. Neither of the sisters were very much deceived.--THACKERAY.

9. Nor wood, nor tree, nor bush are there,
Her course to intercept.--SCOTT.

10. Both death and I am found eternal.--MILTON.

11. In ascending the Mississippi the party was often obliged to
wade through morasses; at last they came upon the district of
Little Prairie.--G. BANCROFT.

12. In a word, the whole nation seems to be running out of their
wits.--SMOLLETT.

SEQUENCE OF TENSES (VERBS AND VERBALS).

[Sidenote: _Lack of logical sequence in verbs_.]

446. I