shabuzen102 wrote:
Would you please explain why "none" and "nor" in option B are double negatives?
Hello,
shabuzen102. I will do my best to illustrate why using both
none and
nor in choice (B) makes no sense, in terms of meaning and grammatical structure. Let us take a closer look at the sentence and the answer in question.
souvik101990 wrote:
In the early part of the twentieth century, many vacationers found that driving automobiles and sleeping in tents allowed them to enjoy nature close at hand and tour at their own pace, with none of the restrictions of passenger trains and railroad timetables or with the formalities, expenses, and impersonality of hotels.
B. with none of the restrictions of passenger trains, railroad timetables, nor
In this
with none of construct, the negation carries into any item that follows, and importantly, the second item in that list is surrounded by commas, indicating that a third item will follow. Note the difference:
1) with none of A, B, or C
2) with none of A or B, nor with C
It is not that I would never use 2) above, but that the
with none of tag has to exhaust itself before
nor can enter the picture, and that does not happen in option (B). As written, the phrase could be read as,
B. with none of the restrictions of passenger trains, with none of the restrictions of railroad timetables, nor with none of the restrictions of formalities...
I think you would agree that something is off in that last phrase, and that that something is the extraneous
nor. You can call it what you want, but in any case, it does not belong.
I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have further questions.
- Andrew
Thanks so much for your detailed answer. It makes a lot of sense. Just to confirm though, both (1) and (2) are correct right?
Would you please explain then why C is wrong? Is it just because of the lack of "the"? It doesn't seem too convincing to me if it's just the absence of "the"