Please see these two sentences:
- I am not your slave, nor do I have to follow your advice.
- I am not your slave, neither do I have to follow your advice.
Which one is correct? If neither is correct, please do not divide the sentence into two parts using a full stop; please give only one sentence.
Can I also use 'and' and say: "I am not your slave and I do not have to follow your advice."?
Best Answer
Neither of your proposed options sound correct. Neither and nor are often used together, for example:
The meaning of which is
Now, in the above examples, the neither/nor construction is idiomatic because you're referring to two things which he did not eat for supper. That is
As you can see, both of the items referred to by neither and nor are things which were not eaten for supper. So it makes logical sense to pair them this way. (I'm not saying this is the only way in which neither/nor can be used, but it's common, and hopefully will help you understand the problem with your sentence.)
So now we return to your examples:
Neither of these sound right, and here's why: not being a slave and not having to follow someone's advice are two completely separate ideas. If they were both things I am not (your slave), things I don't have to do (follow your advice), or, as mentioned previously, things I didn't have for supper, then you could combine them with neither/nor. For example:
The category is things I am not; I am not your slave and I am not your pet. This is fine.
Now, it is also possible to change I do not have to follow your advice (things I do not have to do) into I am not required to follow your advice (which now makes it a thing I am not). In that case you could use neither/nor:
Now the construction makes sense because both items fall into the same category. This is actually a useable sentence for your purposes; you could say it and you would be understood just fine. It does come across as a bit formal, though, and I don't think you're likely to hear it in casual conversation.
So to select the wording which is most likely to be useful in conversation, forego neither/nor entirely since your two items are not of the same type. Instead say this:
The and combines two separate but true statements. Simple and to the point!