Is there no way to avoid repetition in writing?

Question

The moment he says it to the student, the student was sending a message.

Here 'he' refers to the teacher mentioned before the sentence I took out.

Here 'the student' refers to the student I mentioned before the sentence I took out.

I just set two people (no real people)

As you see, 'the student' is repeated; I put it in a row because I do not know how to avoid repetition in that situation: do not know a gender.

Q1) Do you just say it like:

The moment he says it to the student, he/she was sending a message, regardless the ambiguity?

Q2) Is the usage of the colon and the second comma(underlined) in Q1 is correct?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,
The moment he says it to the student, the student was sending a message.
At the moment he says it to the student, the student is sending a message.
At the moment he said it to the student, the student was sending a message.

Here 'he' refers to the teacher mentioned before the sentence I took out.

Here 'the student' refers to the student I mentioned before the sentence I took out.

I just set two people (no real people)

As you see, 'the student' is repeated; I put it in a row because I do not know how to avoid repetition in that situation: do not know a gender.

Q1) Do you just say it like:

The moment he says it to the student, he/she was sending a message, regardless the ambiguity?
Grammatically, this is not ambiguous, but in the real world the listener will not be sure what is meant.
You could say, . . . to the student, the person was . . .
You could say, . . . to the student, he or she was . . . (ie avoid slashes in formal writing)
You could say, At the moment he said it ~~to the student~~, the student was sending a message.

Q2) Is the usage of the colon and the second comma(underlined) in Q1 is correct? No, particularly the second comma. You need to set the example apart somehow, eg by using quotation marks or perhaps italics.

Clive

Moon7296 · Answer

Thank you Clive

You said 'No, particularly the second comma. You need to set the example apart somehow, eg by using quotation marks or perhaps italics.'

Q) Then put a quotation marks like below and leave the second comma as it is?

Do you just say it like:

'The moment he says it to the student, he/she was sending a message,' regardless the ambiguity?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Q) Then put a quotation marks like below and leave the second comma as it is?

Do you just say it like:

'The moment he says it to the student, he/she was sending a message,' regardless the ambiguity?

'Like' here is casual and not very good style.

'Regardless of something'.

I suggest
Do you just say it like:

'The moment he says it to the student, he/she was sending a message,'

regardless of the ambiguity?

or, more formally and more stylishly,

Do you just say, for example, 'The moment he says it to the student, he/she was sending a message,' regardless of the ambiguity?

Clive

Is there no way to avoid repetition in writing?

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