d to _not_ ...
_either_,--"I am not in spirits _either_ to enjoy it, _or_ to reply to
it."

Besides _neither ... or_, even _neither ... nor_ is often changed to
_not_--_either ... or_ with advantage, as the negation is sometimes
too far from the verb to which it belongs.

A noun may be preceded by one of the correlatives, and an equivalent
pronoun by the other. The sentence, "This loose and inaccurate manner
of speaking has misled us _both_ in the theory of taste _and_ of
morals," may be changed to "This loose ... misled us _both_ in the
theory of taste _and_ in _that_ of morals."

Exercise.

Correct the following sentences:--

1. An ordinary man would neither have incurred the danger of
succoring Essex, nor the disgrace of assailing him.--MACAULAY.

2. Those ogres will stab about and kill not only strangers, but
they will outrage, murder, and chop up their own kin.--THACKERAY.

3. In the course of his reading (which was neither pursued with
that seriousness or that devout mind which such a study requires)
the youth found himself, etc.--_Id._

4. I could neither bear walking nor riding in a carriage over its
pebbled streets.--FRANKLIN.

5. Some exceptions, that can neither be dissembled nor eluded,
render this mode of reasoning as indiscreet as it is
superfluous.--GIBBON.

6. They will, too, not merely interest children, but grown-up
persons.--_Westminster Review._

7. I had even the satisfaction to see her lavish some kind looks
upon my unfortunate son, which the other could neither extort by
his fortune nor assiduity.--GOLDSMITH.

8. This was done probably to show that he was neither ashamed of
his name or family.--ADDISON.

[Sidenote: Try and _for_ try to.]

456. Occasionally there is found the expression _try and_ instead of
the better authorized _try to_; as,--

We will try _and_ avoid personalities altogether.--THACKERAY.

Did any of you ever try _and_ read "Blackmore's Poems"?--_Id._

Try _and_ avoid the pronoun.--BAIN.

We will try _and_ get a clearer notion of them.--RUSKIN.

[Sidenote: But what.]

457. Instead of the subordinate conjunction _that_, _but_, or _but
that_, or the negative relative _but_, we sometimes find the bulky and
needless _but what_. Now, it is possible to use _but what_ when _what_
is a relative pronoun, as, "He never had any money _but what_ he