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Hans51 Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Usage of and

and

1 used to join two words, phrases etc referring to things that are related in some way:
He's gone to get some fish and chips.

The film starred Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine.

We've dealt with items one, two, and eleven.

He was tall, dark and handsome.

He plays the guitar and sings folk songs.

She didn't speak to anyone and nobody spoke to her.


All of a sudden, I fell into confusion again with the conjunction 'and' because the dictionary says 'and' is used when related but sometimes I think that I can use 'and' without any relation like


A : What do you like?

B : I like people and coffee.


Is there any relation between people and coffee? Or the sentence is wrong?


Or the dictionary is wrong?


What do you native English speakers think?


Thank you so much as usual in advance.
  

Top answer

Hans51 Is there any relation between people and coffee? They are related in that you like both of them. Hans51 Or the sentence is wrong?

— GPY

  • Hans51 Is there any relation between people and coffee?
  • They are related in that you like both of them.
  • Hans51 Or the sentence is wrong?
  • It is not actually wrong, but it seems an unusual juxtaposition.
  • It would need some context to explain why you were treating those things together.
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13 Answers
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Hans51Is there any relation between people and coffee?
They are related in that you like both of them.
Hans51Or the sentence is wrong?
It is not actually wrong, but it seems an unusual juxtaposition. It would need some context to explain why you were treating those things together.
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Thank you so much and then is there a case where 'and' is used when they are not related? Or can I say that they are related because 'and' is used in a sentence?

What do you think?

Thank you so much as usual.
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When a speaker joins two things with 'and', then they are related in some way in the speaker's mind.

I like westerns and my flatmate is Chinese is at first sight an extremely unlikely sentence - there appears to be no connection at all between the two things. However, if a friend visiting my flat says "I see that you have a lot of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood DVDs with Chinese su
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fivejedjonthen we can see how the two things are related.
There seems to be virtually no limit to the associative power of the human brain to connect seeming incongruous things together and thus create sentences that no one has ever spoken before. This observation was the basis of Noam Chomsky's long research into grammar and human cognition.
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I agree and Paris is the capital of France.
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Thank you so much, but could you tell me why you added the sentence 'and Paris is the capital of France'?

I feel like I know it but I am not sure so I would like you to make sure of it please.

Thank you so much as usual.
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It was my pathetic attempt at humour. I tried to come up with a sentence in which it was very difficult to find a relationship between the two things. No doubt somebody will manage it, but it is an extremely unlikely sentence.
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Incorrect use of "and": She left in a Cadillac and a bad mood.

Personally, I think it's so intuitive how to use "and" that anyone would know immediately, even in foreign language, when something has gone wrong in the communication because of a bad use of it.

CJ
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CalifJimIncorrect use of "and":
She put out the light and the cat.
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fivejedjonCalifJimIncorrect use of "and":
She charged her battery and into the room.
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