Grammar – Can ‘Nor’ Be Used with ‘Nothing’ Together?

grammargrammaticality-in-context

He is a killer! There's nothing to doubt with nor debunk it.

How does it sound? Since my Grammarly keyboard didn't correct my sentence, I think it's fine? Although, I've never heard or seen "nothing + … + nor". What I've known, nor is used with neither or not (at least that's what my dictionary told me). I'm assuming I can use nor since my sentence sounds rather negative.

Best Answer

No, you can't use nor with nothing. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it can be used in a list after neither, or on its own as a replacement for neither.

If you want to use it, you would have to say:

There is neither anything to doubt nor anything to debunk it.

Alternatively, you could say:

There is nothing to doubt and nothing to debunk it.


The word with is not required in your sentence.

It is unusual to say that something cannot be debunked: debunk has overtones that the thing to be debunked has been misrepresented, and in this case the speaker would not want to suggest that their opinion is a misrepresentation. disprove might be a better word to use in this context.

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