• ТО ЛИ... ТО ЛИ...; НЕ ТО... НЕ ТО...
[coord Conj, disjunctive]
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⇒ used when citing two (or, occas., more) possibilities to show that the speaker thinks that one of them is probably correct, true:
- either...or (perhaps)...;
- whether (perhaps)...or...;
- (s.o. < sth.>) might have <be etc>...or (perhaps)...;
- [in limited contexts] ... or is it...
♦ "Вон оттуда, - она показала пальцем на балкон третьего этажа, -то ли столкнули голубушку, то ли сама прыгнула..." (Чернёнок 1). "From up there," she said, pointing to a third-floor balcony, "the poor thing was either pushed or she jumped..." (1a).
♦ ...Был он худой, изнурённый, и с утра никогда не понять: не то недоспал, не то переспал... (Ерофеев 2). He was skinny and emaciated, and in the morning it was hard to tell whether he hadn't gotten enough sleep or had overslept (2a).
♦ В воздухе стоял кисловатый дух то ли слегка подгнивающих прошлогодних листьев, устилающих землю, то ли усыхающих ягод черники... то ли древесных соков, бродящих в могучих стволах смешанного леса (Искандер 5). There was a mild tang in the air, perhaps from last year's carpet of leaves gently decaying on the ground, or from drying blueberries...or from tree sap fermenting in the mighty trunks of the mixed forest (5a).
♦ Среди гостей была даже и одна звезда рока, то ли Карл Питерс, то ли Питер Карлтон, долговязый и худой, в золотом пиджаке на голое тело (Аксёнов 7). There was also a bona-fide rock star-Carleton Peters, or was it Peter Carleton?-with stick-figure arms protruding from a gold lame vest over a bare chest (7a).