How to use "and"

Question

When combining the following (1) and (2), can I say
"Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos, and materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them shall not be used." ?
Or can any "and" be omitted?

(1) Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos
(2) Materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain the above

Note that I need to follow the writing rule of "A, B, and C", not "A, B and C".

Thank you for your help in advance.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Well, you cannot very well delete an and. Can you use an as well as instead?--

Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos, as well as any materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them, shall not be used.

Aperisic · Answer

Anonymous
When combining the following (1) and (2), can I say
"Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos, and materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them shall not be used." ?
Or can any "and" be omitted?

(1) Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos
(2) Materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain the above

Note that I need to follow the writing rule of "A, B, and C", not "A, B and C".

Thank you for your help in advance.

Strictly it should better be

"Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos; and materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them shall not be used."

but I suggest

"Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos, alike/including materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them shall not be used."

if you dislike using ";"

Without ";" it better be

"Cadmium, mercury, asbestos, as well as/and materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them shall not be used."

but I think that

"Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos, including materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them shall not be used."

is what I frequently find in different form declarations (customs for example)...

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, Mister Micawber and Aperisic. All the examples are very, very helpful!

BarbaraPA · Answer

Please follow Mr. M's advice: Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos, as well as any materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them, shall not be used.

The use of the semicolon suggested above is wrong, and you need a comma after "them."

Also, I would change the "which" to "that" - you want to restrict the materials, chemicals, and equipment by using the the "that" phrase.

Aperisic · Answer

Grammar Geek
Please follow Mr. M's advice: Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos, as well as any materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them, shall not be used.

The use of the semicolon suggested above is wrong, and you need a comma after "them."

Also, I would change the "which" to "that" - you want to restrict the materials, chemicals, and equipment by using the the "that" phrase.

No, semicolon is not wrong, but not very common either.

Semicolon is used, besides else, to separate

two sentences that are closely related
complex items in the list

We had at the party: the battler, Mark; his wife, Sally; his son, Roger; mammy, dad and Jamey; teacher, George; Lucy, Peter and other people around.

including

Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos (including materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them) shall not be used.

Clive · Answer

Hi guys,

"Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos, and materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them shall not be used."
If absolute clarity is needed, perhaps to avoid the risk of danger, I'd prefer to separate the two 'lists'.

eg "Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos shall not be used, nor shall materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them."

With regard to the semi-colon in the version "Cadmium, mercury, and asbestos; and materials, chemicals, and equipment which contain them shall not be used", I agree with GG in that I see this as wrong. The words here do not constitute a list in the way that the later example We had at the party: X; Y; Z do.

Best wishes, Clive

Aperisic · Answer

I do not see why you object so heavily to the usage of semicolon. I agree that that is not the best possible option but it is far from being wrong. I can go on with examples like this one:

I was in the house number 21, 32 and 45; and the garages, patios and windows were all destroyed by the earthquake.

Gold, silver and platinum coins; and rings, bracelets and brooches made of these materials must pass through the customs.

Why I mentioned semicolon is because there is almost no other way to keep one and after another and. (But, I've suggested as well to replace two successive and's with something else.)

item A, item B, and item C, and item D, item F and item G => item A, item B, and item C; and item D, item F and item G

i.e. if one says you must use two successive and's I would use semicolon.

For example

Fill in the blanks:

Cadmium _ mercury _ and asbestos _ and materials _ chemicals _ and equipment which contain them shall not be used.

What I want to say is that using a semicolon here is definitely an option to consider. If you want to use two and's use semicolon. If you dislike a semicolon (if it sounds awkward to you as it does to many people here) change the second and or use parentheses or use other options given above. Wrong? A semicolon is not wrong.

Mister Micawber · Answer

Semicolon is used, besides else, to separate
two sentences that are closely related
complex items in the list
This information is right, Aperisic; however, in your--
I was in the house number 21, 32 and 45; and the garages, patios and windows were all destroyed by the earthquake.
-- semicolons should not used with conjunctions; they are used instead of conjunctions. The following is OK:

I was in house numbers 21, 32 and 45; the garages, patios and windows were all destroyed by the earthquake.

The following is wrong because-- unless it is a list with internal commas-- an independent clause must be on each side of the semicolon:Gold, silver and platinum coins; and rings, bracelets and brooches made of these materials must pass through the customs.
The above is not a list (which requires at least 3 items-- you have only two, A and B below), so it needs to read:
(A) Gold, silver and platinum coins and (B) rings, bracelets and brooches made of these materials must pass through the customs.

But-- as we are all trying to accomplish-- the awkward and after coins can be replaced (according to my perception, at least) by as well as. I think there are some other good suggestions earlier in the thread as well.

Aperisic · Answer

Mister Micawber

Semicolon is used, besides else, to separate

two sentences that are closely related
complex items in the list

This information is right, Aperisic; however, in your--
I was in the house number 21, 32 and 45; and the garages, patios and windows were all destroyed by the earthquake.
-- semicolons should not used with conjunctions; they are used instead of conjunctions. The following is OK:

I was in house numbers 21, 32 and 45; the garages, patios and windows were all destroyed by the earthquake.

The following is wrong because-- unless it is a list with internal commas-- an independent clause must be on each side of the semicolon:Gold, silver and platinum coins; and rings, bracelets and brooches made of these materials must pass through the customs.
The above is not a list (which requires at least 3 items-- you have only two, A and B below), so it needs to read:
(A) Gold, silver and platinum coins and (B) rings, bracelets and brooches made of these materials must pass through the customs.

But-- as we are all trying to accomplish-- the awkward and after coins can be replaced (according to my perception, at least) by as well as. I think there are some other good suggestions earlier in the thread as well.
I know what you want to say and I agree, but I repeat that there is possibly no other way to separate two and's in case where, for some reason, they appear one after another.

In this case

I was in the house number 21, 32 and 45; and the garages, patios and windows were all destroyed by the earthquake.

marked and has the same function as this and

I was in the house, and I found nobody there.

not as in this one

I was in the house and in the cellar, but I found nobody there.

Now, you probably think why anyone would use two successive and's, if you can use something else. I don't know, I just think what I would do if someone would insist on it, nothing else. (Maybe in a poem...)

At first when I read the initial question, I understood literally that we must connect those items with successive and's and I gave the answer, then I said what to do if two and's are changed as you all did. And whatever anyone of you say, I will not change my claim.

The semicolon is possible in this situation, if you really don't want to give up having two consecutive and's (and I agree that what you get with a semicolon is clumsy; that is why I gave the other options), but as with a semicolon always is, you should rethink whether a semicolon is really the final resort you can pull out for your sentence.

If you do not consider a semicolon for the situation like this one in the initial question, then you will probably never use a semicolon. A semicolon, in essence, is a grammatical element, but far more a stylistic one.

And that is my final point (OK, with two sample lines that follow it )

Aperisic · Answer

...

The air, water and earth; and people with pride,

I love this land full of virtues not to hide

...

How to use "and"

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions