"Neither is" or "neither are" [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Which is correct, “neither is” or “neither are”?
Which is correct?
No, neither of these websites is biased as they give a wide range of informative information without being one sided.
No, neither of these websites are biased as they give a wide range of informative information without being one sided.
I am confused about the subject-verb agreement here.
Neither is the subject (it is being used as a pronoun). It is generally singular, as evidenced in the sample usage at dictionary.com. So you should go with
No, neither of these websites is biased, as they both give a wide range of good information without being one-sided.
Note, however, as recorded in another EL&U question, that the pluralization depends on which two entities are being compared. In this case you are comparing one website with another website, so the singular is clearly called for; but if you were comparing one group of things with another group, the plural could be used:
Neither the Smiths nor the Wessons are available for dinner.
As so often, ‘The Cambridge Guide to English Usage’, based as it is on corpus data, challenges the traditional view:
. . . research for the ‘Longman Grammar’ (1999) shows that the use of the plural verb is quite common. In fact singular and plural agreement have slightly different effects. Compare:
Neither director nor producer has much experience.
Neither director nor producer have much experience.
The singular verb seems to particularize while the plural one generalizes. The use of a plural verb there is as natural as it would be in a matching positive statement: Both director and producer have plenty of experience.
In "English Grammar in Use (Intermediate, unit 88)", it is said that After Neither of .... a singular or plural verb is possible:
- Neither of the children wants (or want) to go to bed.
Note: Neither restaurant & Neither of the restaurants
Neither restaurant is expensive.
Neither of the restaurants we went was (or were) expensive.