The cause of Osgoods syndrome is unknown, nor is it known

Question

The cause of Osgoodâ€™s syndrome is  unknown, nor is it known  why the disease appears to be increasing in the United States.

A. unknown, nor is it known
B. unknown, neither do they know
C. not known, nor do they know
D. not known, unknown too is
E. not known, neither do they know 



OA:
  VVVVVVVVVVAVVVVVVVVVVV.
  
My question : 'nor' is used with negative sentence :
'I don't eat X nor Y'
He is not tall nor big
He likes neither X nor Y'
BUT here the first part of the sentence is not negative: 'He is unknown' is positive. Negative would it be if 'He is NOT known. 
Is the sentence really positive as I think or am I mistaken? If I am right, it follows that NOR cannot be used.

Thanks

gmacvik · Answer

But I think, you didn't underline the question correctly

karlfurt · Answer

That's right!:-D 

The cause of Osgoodâ€™s syndrome is  unknown, nor is it known  why the disease appears to be increasing in the United States.

A. unknown, nor is it known
B. unknown, neither do they know
C. not known, nor do they know
D. not known, unknown too is
E. not known, neither do they know

thadipalam · Answer

karlfurt,

this is wrong : I am adding the correct usages...
'I don't eat X nor Y' -> I dont eat either 'X' or 'Y'
He is not tall nor big -> He is neither tall nor big/ He is not tall or big 
He doesn't like neither X nor Y' -> He doesn't like either X or Y


I pick E here.

karlfurt · Answer

Thadipalam, 

I agree that my last example was wrong, and I edited it. But not as you did. I wrote 'He likes neither X nor Y':

But the usage in the two firsts examples were correct : neither can be used with or wouthout neither. Neither can only be used together with Nor.

And E is clearly wrong because 'they' has no referent.

So my troubles remain....

burningskulls · Answer

You can use nor in this sense.....

Rearrange it to say

I don't know the cause, nor do I know why it is increasing

I think this is a valid statement

Anything with they is not right because they does not refer to anything. And D is wrong because that would have to be 2 seperate sentences for the second part to start with "unknown too"

I go for A

Viperace · Answer

A too. 

As explained above, the usage of pronoun 'they' is peculiar.
However, I don't like A usage of (unknown, nor) too

pawan82 · Answer

I think D. 

Since B,C, and E use the refrent "they" who are not defined in the sentence. 

Whereas "it" in A is not clear to what it refers to. 

Whats the OA?

ak_idc · Answer

I would go with A too.

There seems to be a sentence break in D.

arjsingh1976 · Answer

B,C and E are out since 'they' used in these choice doesn't have any reference.

Between A and D, I prefer A. 

D seems to have a wrong split of sentence!

What is OA?

neelabhmahesh · Answer

I think we can equate  unknown  with  not known  here. so i prefer A

GMATT73 · Answer

X  isn't  Y, nor  is  it Z~

Straightforward (A) here.

karlfurt · Answer

The OA was posted with the question. It is hidden.
I posted it together with the SC in order to talk quickly about the issue, which is about the use of nor.

A seems to be obviously the right answer because it sounds better than the rest, and seems grammatically correct. But I would like to be sure.

Many of you think it is correct. Is there anyone who can really confirm?

Matt, you write :

 X  isn't  Y, nor is it Z~  

But here we have 

 X  is  Y, nor it is Z 

It is like saying :

 He is impatient, nor is he docile. 

I believe, unless someone affirms the opposite, that it is wrong.

Better would it be(I think):

 He is not patient, nor is he docile 
OR
 He is impatient and indocile 
OR 
 He is neither patient nor docile. 

I don't know if A is correct, despite the OA. There is the rule where one says that we have to take the best of the options. If, as I would believe, A is wrong, we cannot choose any of the answers. May be this is an incorrect SC which would never be proposed at an exam.

My worry is that I don't want to learn a new rule which appears to be wrong and then make a mistake during the exam.

Thanks for your comprehension.

karlfurt · Answer

Before it disappears for the eternity, I give this post one last chance to get an explanation!

GMATT73 · Answer

Yeah, you got my attention Karl.

unknown and not known can be used interchangeably. 

So my original grammar rule applies here. 

 The cause of Osgoodâ€™s syndrome  is   not known/unknown ,  nor   is  it known why the disease appears to be increasing in the United States.

The cause of Osgoods syndrome is unknown, nor is it known

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