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For example: They don't allow you to enter the room. How to say that they don't allow me to enter too? What is the shortest way to say it? Is it possible to use neither in such situation? Neither do me? Is it possible to replay on sentence in an active voice with a passive sentence?

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  • allow takes an infinitival complement: allow {someone} to enter
    – TimR
    Commented May 16, 2018 at 11:02
  • Are you writing this or saying this. It makes a world of difference.
    – Lambie
    Commented May 16, 2018 at 13:31
  • I am saying it. For writing, I think it is better to write long version because if someone gets you wrong you wouldn't have a chance to explain what did you mean
    – Elvira
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 4:50

2 Answers 2

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There are three possible practical responses in normal conversation, but only two of them are, technically (in a formal sense), grammatical:

Me either.
Nor me.

First of all, look at the initial statement:

They didn't allow me to enter the room.

There are a couple of long replies that could be made to this:

They didn't allow me to enter the room either.
Nor did they allow me to enter the room.

When you use a shorter version of a sentence to stand for it's longer version, it's called an elliptical sentence. In other words, pieces of the sentence have been removed, leaving just enough components so that it is still understood.

With the example answers, the elliptical sentences are:

(they didn't allow) Me to enter the room either.
Nor did they allow me to enter the room.

Note 1: In casual conversation, some people do still respond to this with me neither, but the problem, in terms of grammar, is that—in this specific example—if it's an elliptical sentence, then it could only come from an ungrammatical longer sentence:

They didn't allow me to enter the room neither.

Therefore, me neither is (in a purely formal sense) ungrammatical.

However, having said that, such a response is commonly given in informal speech—and it would be understood by anybody who heard it.

Note 2: In the UK, me either is rarely used. Instead, at least in informal speech, it's normally me neither.

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If I say to you:

They wouldn't let me in the room.

you can reply

Me neither.

or

Nor me.

Me neither is conversational. Nor me would sound a little formal to most speakers of American English.

You could also say

They wouldn't let me in either.

But with either most native speakers in their reply would probably repeat some or all of the first speaker's statement, echoing the negative, wouldn't. A good many however would simply say

Me either.

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  • Context is all, obviously, but if the first statement had been John wouldn't let Jane in the room, we might reasonably understand the response Me neither/Nor me as meaning EITHER John wouldn't let me in either OR I wouldn't let Jane in either. And since OP hasn't given us the full context for his example, even that could be understood to mean I won't let you in either.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented May 16, 2018 at 12:24
  • When the meaning of the reply is I wouldn't let you in either, I think I wouldn't either is far more likely than me neither, since me neither would probably be understood the other way around: They wouldn't let me in either.
    – TimR
    Commented May 16, 2018 at 12:53
  • I can't really see that the either / neither, or / nor choices themselves particularly push toward one interpretation or the other. I think what's actually going on is that by default we assume the referent of nor me, me neither to be the most recently mentioned (credible) NP - so if that's not what's intended, we might explicitly repeat more elements from the preceding utterance to disambiguate. But if I consider John doesn't like Jane and possible responses #1 Nor me and #2 Me neither, I'm slightly inclined to prefer #1 for the sense John doesn't like me either.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented May 16, 2018 at 13:13
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    @Jason Bassford: Your advice is misguided. If it is idiomatic, it is grammatical.
    – TimR
    Commented May 16, 2018 at 19:05
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    Me neither is perfectly grammatical. It's less formal than Neither do I, but it's important not to confuse formality with grammaticality. Me either is also grammatical for many speakers, but that depends on dialect, so I usually recommend me neither to learners as a safer alternative.
    – user230
    Commented May 16, 2018 at 21:38

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