This needs to be fixed

I wish I could say that neither the writer nor the editor needs to brush up on grammar, but I can’t. Someone at Yahoo Lifestyle needs a refresher on matching a verb to a subject:

When a subject consists of two nouns joined by neither…nor, the verb must agree with the noun closer to it. So these are both correct:

• Neither my sister nor my mother needs to read junk like that.
• Neither my sister nor my parents need to read junk like that.

Neither the writer nor the editor was correct

Neither the writer nor the editor at Yahoo! Style was correct when they accepted this verb choice:

When a compound subject is joined by the correlative conjunction neither…nor, the verb must agree with the noun closer to it. That noun, groom, is singular and the verb should be was, not were.

Neither or nor have is correct

From Yahoo! Celebrity, two gaffes for the price of one:

Neither or nor the verb have responded is correct. The partner of neither is nor, not or. And when a compound subject is joined by the correlative conjunction neither…nor, the verb must agree with the subject closer to it. So, the verb should be has responded.

Plus-size errors

What to do? What to do? What does one do if one can’t decide if a compound adjective needs a hyphen? Well, if one works at Yahoo! Style, one hyphenates it once, and leaves it unhyphenated once. Problem solved!

That solution is neither appropriate nor correct, just as the use of the word or, instead of nor, with neither is wrong.

Neither writer nor editor

Over at Yahoo! Style, neither the writer nor the editor has spotted this grammatical goof:

When two words are joined by neither…nor, the verb must agree with the word closer to it, which in this case is the singular Hadid, and the verb should be has released.

Judd Apatow is singular

Neither the Yahoo! Movies editors nor the writer has any idea what the correct verb is here:

When a compound subject (like reviews and Judd Apatow) is joined by neither…nor, the verb must agree with the subject closer to it. In this case, it’s Judd Apatow and the verb should be has pushed.

Neither is correct

In this excerpt from Yahoo! Sports, neither or nor are is correct:

The correlative conjunction pair is neither…nor, not neither…or. And when neither…nor joins two nouns as the subject of a sentence, the verb (which should be is denying) must agree with the noun closer to it (which is Gordon).

Neither has commented

Neither the Yahoo! Celebrity writer nor editor has commented on this grammatical gaffe:

When two subjects are joined by neither…nor, the verb must agree with the subject closer to it. In this case, the verb must agree with Jungwirth and should be has commented.

Neither writer nor editor saw this

Did anyone over at yahoo.com notice that there’s a messed-up correlative conjunction:

You should have kept it under wraps

The writer for Yahoo! Style should have kept this sad attempt at a common idiom under wraps:

Neither confirming nor denying that she’s responsible for the incorrect correlative conjunction won’t absolve her of responsibility for the mistakes she makes.