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Hungry Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Lots of ands in a list.

0 01font01font01i00If there were no children, the world and our lives both would be colourless02i01b00 (and05000 )02b01i00 meaningless and soulless.02i02font02br
02br
02font00Does it sound good to put the parenthesized 'and' in the sentence above? 02br
02br
00Once my English teacher told me when there is a long list of words, we don't write01b00 'and'02b00 after each and every word in the list. It seems odd. 01b00'And'02b00 functions as a wooden plank over a brook, which helps one to cross the brook without any jerk. If there are more than two entities in a list, we put a comma 01b00(,)02b00 after each entity, but the one before the last one, since it is followed by 01b00'and'02b00. 02br
00For example, 01font01i00The lady in black looks very gorgeous01b00,02b00 stunning01b00,02b00 fascinating01b00, 02b00elegant 01b00and02b00 attractive.02i02font02br
02br
00But I have often noticed 'and' written more than once. Could someone also tell me what connotations does a list, having more than one 01b00'and',02b00 have?02br
02br
00Thanks in anticipation.05100 030srchttp://www.usingenglish.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_confused.gif31srchttp://www.usingenglish.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif
  

Top answer

02font 02br 02br 01font 00Generally speaking, I agree with a comma after each item but not before the final 'and'. Some people will also put a comma before 'and'. 02font 02br 02br 01font 00If you include the 'and' in the above example, it strongly emphasises each item and its separateness from the others.

— Clive

  • 02font 02br 02br 01font 00Generally speaking, I agree with a comma after each item but not before the final 'and'.
  • Some people will also put a comma before 'and'.
  • 02font 02br 02br 01font 00If you include the 'and' in the above example, it strongly emphasises each item and its separateness from the others.
  • 02font 02br 02br 01font 00There are also lists where 'and' is a part of a particular item.
  • eg 02font 01font 00I like pizza, 01i 00fish and chips02i 00, hamburgers and ice-cream.
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5 Answers
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0Hi,02br
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01font00If there were no children, the world and our lives both would be colourless01b00 (and05000 )02b00 meaningless and soulless.02font02br
02br
01font00Generally speaking, I agree with a comma after each item but not before the final 'and'. Some pe
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0Oh! So kind of you, Clive. Thanks a trillion trillion.You always nip in the bud all of my problems.050010id2
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0 01font01font01i00If there were no children, the world and our lives both would be colourless02i01b00 (and05000 )02b01i00 meaningless and soulless.02i02font02br
02font00Does it sound good to put the parenthesized 'and' in the sentence above? No. A
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0Many thanks for your help, Yoong Liat.05000 It's so nice of you.010id1
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I know this is like 10 years later, but it came up first for me in a google search and so I just have to say, I agree with the comma use but the sentence should be written: If there were no children, both the world and our lives would be colourless, meaningless and soulless. The original sentence doesn't make sense, but if there were just two adjectives at the end it could be written:

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