Compound predicate word order

Question

I have been lead to believe that "Open and save the document" is bad and that "Open the document and save it" is good. Someone recently challenged this, but I have failed to remember the rationale or to find a reference that discusses this. I haven't been able to find anything on this topic in the AUE FAQ, either. Comments?
Thanks,
meeroh

If this message helped you, consider buying an item from my wish list:

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I have been lead to believe that "Open and save the document" is bad and that "Open the document and ... reference that discusses this. I haven't been able to find anything on this topic in the AUE FAQ, either. Comments?[/nq]
There's nothing at all wrong with either. Somebody may have decided to believe that 'Open and save' placed together suggest that the two actions are to be performed simultaneously; but that would be a silly interpretation.
Mike.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have been lead to believe that "Open and save the document" is bad and that "Open the document and ... reference that discusses this. I haven't been able to find anything on this topic in the AUE FAQ, either. Comments?[/nq]
Is your question about grammar, or about
style? Both are grammatical sentences.
Which one is more suitable as an instruction
depends upon the audience and circumstances.
Logically, "open and save" doesn't make sense
to me because, in my understanding of how things
work, there is no reason to "save" something that
has just been opened, without some intervening
operation but this objection applies equally
to both the formulations you've given.
If I were writing instructions (something I do
professionally), I would prefer the second version because it clearly separates the two operations.

Michael West
Melbourne, Australia

Compound predicate word order

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions