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Will any of you knowledgeable folk tell me if these ors should be nors?
"Dismiss not passion or grace or thoughtful concern."
or
does:
"Do not dismiss passion or grace or thoughtful concern."
sound better?
I know there should be a coma after passion (or a cigarette), but I want the three things separated.
Thanks
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Carpal Tunnel
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I generally just go into a light trance after passion, rather than a coma, but I get your drift.
There's a guideline for nor as opposed to or. The former is most often paired with neither, while or is paired with either. And since there is no neither expressed or implied in the two sentences, nor does not appear to be appropriate. Also, somewhere in the back of my mind there is a gut feeling that you generally do the either-or or the neither-nor thing with two options. Either go left or go right. Go neither right nor left.
It depends on what you are doing with these sentences, to a great extent, and without knowing it's a bit tough to give you an answer, but I would be inclined to recast as:
"Dismiss not passion, grace or thoughtful concern." That differs from "Do not dismiss passion, grace, or thoughtful concern" in that the second one is directive in nature while the first would be viewed, at least IMHO, as more of a suggestion than a direction.
TEd
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Also there needs to be parallelism between the two "sides" of the phrase.
"Either go left or right" is less correct than "Go either right or left." Why? Because most people view this as two conjoined sentences. If you say "Either go left or right" it might be construed, perhaps in more complex sentences, that you do not have a verb in the second sentence.
I know Faldage is gonna be on this like white on rice, harrumphing about prescriptivism. And you know what? I don't care! The egg came first, dammit.
TEd
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"Either go left or right" is less correct than "Go either right or left."No, you're wrong. There both the same in meaning. Boy, this is fun! I love prescriptivism. I'm going to be prescriptivist all the time now. And, remember, you're wrong a priori. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Why? Because I said so. No other reason needed. And Milo's more wrong than you. And don't get me started with how wrong, Father Steve is. Oh, my, that felt good. As for the question: "Dismiss not" sounds more stilted than "Do not dismiss" but they mean the same thing. Don't listen to the other wrong person. He's wrong. 
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Pooh-Bah
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I think in terms of style, rather than right or wrong, I prefer "Go either right or left," or better yet (for emphasis) "Either go left or go right". It goes back to 8th grade English, diagramming sentences. Either is a fork in the road, and each tine needs its own go to achieve the parallelism that is, IMO, facilitative of understanding. Highly subjective, mind you. I have only my audacity, humility, and good looks to back it up.
As to the original question regarding "Dismiss not passion or grace or thoughtful concern," I think it would be acceptable to use
Dismiss neither passion, grace, nor thoughtful concern.
The main reason for this is that it sounds good to me, and as you know, IISFTTHWI. I direct prescriptivists to Merriam-Webster, who comment
usage Although use with or is neither archaic nor wrong, neither is usually followed by nor. A few commentators think that neither must be limited in reference to two, but reference to more than two has been quite common since the 17th century <rigid enforcement of antique decorum will help neither language, literature, nor literati -- James Sledd>.
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Quote:
I know Faldage is gonna be on this like white on rice, harrumphing about prescriptivism. And you know what? I don't care! The egg came first, dammit.
I agree with you completely. The egg came first.
And it's brown on rice not white. The white is in the rice, not on it, and doesn't come out till you remove the brown.
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zmjezhd, have you taken to drinking corn liquor?  Owly [hug!], here's my take, FWIW--I like: "Dismiss not passion nor grace nor thoughtful concern."
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have you taken to drinking corn liquor?No, you're wrong. It was pisco.  Here in Goosed Flats Slough, I've noticed that the brown-on-gray squirrels is flyin' oily this ear. [I got yer smiley inserted rightcher]
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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enthusiast
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Thanks all,
I will look it over again after a few jars of corn liquor.
Here's the, as yet unedited, whole verse, (note the rice reference Faldage) which is the end a 673 word item which I wrote last year. It hasn't been published in our little local paper yet. I don't mind sharing it, but this is not the forum for that. I will PM it if anyone is interested.
Let this dry, Summer day surround you,
With its nurturing noise and soundless hum.
Let the drip of fresh fruit juice have its way,
Down your chin to feed the soil.
Dismiss not passion or grace or thoughtful concern.
Enjoy your bowl of Basmati rice,
In its elegant, complex simplicity
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"either go right or go left" is a more satisfactory form of parellellism, indeed. "neither go right nor go left" would limit one's options, especially at a fork in the road. And neither has much to do with Owlbow's question, since he's advising keep an open mind to passion, grace, and thoughtful concern (Oops! Comas!), not take yer choice.
I had always thought it was white on rye,like a stripey sandwich.
Hmm.
And...How many say eether and neether and how many eyether and nyether?
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