Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
I can't speak French, and my friend can't ____.
(a)So
(b)Either
(c)So too
(d)Neither

Answer 1

Hint: The sentence says that the subject and his/her friend both of them cannot speak French. So the second clause means that the subject's friend can't speak French too. Thus, the option to be chosen must make sense accordingly.

Complete answer: So, too, either, neither are often used as a reply to someone else in a conversation, but both sentences can also be said by the same person, and even joined together. The quantifiers either and neither are a kind of determiner. We use them to talk about possible choices between two people or things. When used as a determiner, either and neither must come before a singular countable noun.
Now let us analyze the given options: Option(a) ‘So’ is incorrect. 'So’ means 'to the extent' and not 'as well' which is required as per the sentence. Thus, it does not has the right meaning and is not the correct answer.
Option(b) ‘Either’ is absolutely correct. 'Either' means 'as well' or 'also' which fits perfectly with the sentence. Thus, it means that the subject's friend cannot speak French as well. Hence Option B is the right answer.
Option(c) ‘So too’ is the wrong answer. 'So too' makes zero sense grammatically. It is not a correct phrase in the English language and therefore this option is absolutely wrong.
Option(d) ‘Neither’ is also incorrect. 'Neither' means 'not one or the other' and not 'as well' which will not at all make sense with the sentence. This option does not has a suitable meaning and is, therefore, the wrong option.

Note: Either and neither can be used in several ways: adverbs, determiners, pronouns and conjunctions. While 'either' has a positive connotation, 'neither' holds a negative significance. You will always find them paired up this way: either/or and neither/nor. They are never directly followed by an article, determiner or a pronoun when they are being used as determiners.