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JJDouglas Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Parallelism where one clause is negative
"If you have not done your homework, failed to hand it in, or written it very poorly, you will be left to face the wrath of the Headteacher."
Is this poor parallelism? Does the "not" create confusion? Would the meaning be read as "if you have not failed to hand it in" and "if you have not written it very poorly"?
To rectify it, would I need to reinstate the "have" before each item?
Is this poor parallelism? Does the "not" create confusion? Would the meaning be read as "if you have not failed to hand it in" and "if you have not written it very poorly"?
To rectify it, would I need to reinstate the "have" before each item?
Top answer
Yes, but since this was clearly not written by an educated person, nobody will worry.
- Yes, but since this was clearly not written by an educated person, nobody will worry.
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3 Answers
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Yes, but since this was clearly not written by an educated person, nobody will worry.
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So they should all have "have" before them?
fivejedjon since this was clearly not written by an educated personDo you mean it's a very poorly written sentence in general? Is there a way to make it better?
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If the original sentence is poor, would this be any better?
"If you have not done your homework – or if you've done it but have either failed to hand it in or written it poorly – then you will be left to face the wrath of the Headteacher."
"If you have not done your homework – or if you've done it but have either failed to hand it in or written it poorly – then you will be left to face the wrath of the Headteacher."
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