Not Altamont, but thou, hadst been my lord.—Rowe.
Not I, but thou, his blood dost shed.—Byron.
This construction is at the best a little awkward. It is avoided either by using a verb which has no forms for person (as, "He or I can go," "She or you may be sure," etc.), or by rearranging the sentence so as to throw each subject before its proper person form (as, "You would not be wiser, nor should I;" or, "I have never said so, nor has she").
Exceptional examples.
445. The following illustrate exceptional usage, which it is proper to mention; but the student is cautioned to follow the regular usage rather than the unusual and irregular.
Exercise.
Change each of the following sentences to accord with standard usage, as illustrated above (Secs. 440-444):—
1.
And sharp Adversity will teach at last
Man,—and, as we would hope,—perhaps the devil,
That neither of their intellects are vast.
—Byron.
2. Neither of them, in my opinion, give so accurate an idea of the man as a statuette in bronze.—Trollope.