Confusing "preposition + and"

Question

Hello,I want to learn how to read and write clearly a sentence like as follows: "Important things are integrity of DSID, ABVD, and KGD-related subparts."Q1. What does the boldic part mean?A. integrity of DSID, integrity of ABVD, and integrity of KGD-related subpartsB. integrity of DSID; ABVD; and KGD-related subpartsC. Three factors of DSID, ABVD and KGD-related subparts are all integratedQ2. How can I write a line for each of the above option clearly?Thanks a lot.

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

zazzex
"Important things are the integrity of DSID, ABVD, and KGD-related subparts."

Q1. What does the boldic part mean?

By default, I understand it to refer to the integrity of all three things. It is potentially ambiguous whether the three things are DSID, ABVD and KGD-related subparts, or DSID-related subparts, ABVD-related subparts and KGD-related subparts. If you mean the latter then strictly you should write "the integrity of DSID-, ABVD-, and KGD-related subparts." However, the absence of the suspended hyphens is not conclusive evidence that this meaning is not intended. A doubt remains that the author might just not have bothered, or might not have realised they would help disambiguate. In practice, the context will usually determine which meaning is intended and understood, so it usually won't be a big deal.

Other associations may be possible if, in the context, they make more sense. For example, if ABVD and KGD-related subparts are things to which the word "integrity" cannot apply, then "integrity" would be understood to apply only to DSID.

zazzexA. integrity of DSID, integrity of ABVD, and integrity of KGD-related subparts

B. integrity of DSID; ABVD; and KGD-related subparts

C. Three factors of DSID, ABVD and KGD-related subparts are all integrated

Q2. How can I write a line for each of the above option clearly?

A. Unless the context is particularly unhelpful, the original sentence will usually do. Otherwise, you can say "Important things are the integrity of DSID, the integrity of ABVD, and the integrity of KGD-related subparts."

B. "Important things are ABVD, KGD-related subparts, and the integrity of DSIS."

C. I'm not sure what you mean. You may mean "The integration of DSID, ABVD and KGD-related subparts". Note that "integration" doesn't mean "integrity", so the original sentence can't mean this.

Confusing "preposition + and"

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