Optional conjunction "and"?
Hi. Is it correct not to put the conjunction "and" between the words "life" and "death"? Could it (conjunction "and") be optional? I think I saw sentences more than a few times online where there were three adjectives (not in an attributive position) or nouns but in which the conjunction "and" was ommitted.
He has taken on a body with its cycle of birth, life, (and??) death.
Top answer
The omission of the conjunction is the rhetorical device of asyndeton. It is dramatic and literary, and should therefore be used very, very sparingly in ordinary writing. If you never use it, that would be good.
- The omission of the conjunction is the rhetorical device of asyndeton.
- It is dramatic and literary, and should therefore be used very, very sparingly in ordinary writing.
- If you never use it, that would be good.
- " Julius Caesar supposedly said "veni, vidi, vici".
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The omission of the conjunction is the rhetorical device of asyndeton. It is dramatic and literary, and should therefore be used very, very sparingly in ordinary writing. If you never use it, that would be good. Lincoln used it in the Gettysburg Address: "and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Julius Caesar supposedly said "veni, vid
0Broadly speaking it is more civilized not to omit and.
Sometimes it is omitted, however, for a special effect. I recommend waiting until you are a famous published writer before you start omitting ands.
CJ
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