Conjunctions, elements, and yet another boring post by Irina ⛄️

The post is going to be technical and boring, but I feel compelled to write it because it's about a very common mistake.

So, can you spot the mistake in these sentences?

1️⃣ "They can choose their lifestyle, including their job, dietary behaviour, bad or good habits."

2️⃣ "One or two curse words, ironic or sarcastic phrases dropped innocently every now and then, do not really make a difference when used separately."

3️⃣ "While writing a thesis, we sometimes succumb to common temptations like having another cappuccino with cinnamon, taking a pause to catch up with the news or to read a bit of a recently acquired novel."

Elements on a list. What are they? They can be different things—nouns, verbs, adjectives, phrases—but they are things identical in importance and form.

Some simple examples:
- Two elements: "I like apples and pears."
- Three elements: "I like apples, pears, and kiwis."

In conventional writing, the last element on a list must be connected with "and" or "or" because this indicates the end of the list. Easy-peasy.

But things get complicated when sentences are long and elements are complex.

1️⃣ Let's take this sentence apart: "They can choose their lifestyle, including their job, dietary behaviour, bad or good habits."

Don't let the "or" fool you. One type of elements here is nouns: job, behavior, habits. Another is adjectives: bad, good. The "or" we have connects adjectives. The last noun element doesn't have an "and" or an "or."

Fix: "They can choose their lifestyle, including their job, dietary behaviour, and bad or good habits."

2️⃣ Let's do the same with the second sentence: "One or two curse words, ironic or sarcastic phrases dropped innocently every now and then, do not really make a difference when used separately."

Just like in the previous sentence, some elements are connected, some aren't. The "or"s connect numbers and adjectives. But nouns—words, phrases—are not connected. If we use another "or," however, the sentence would have too many. So I have a more elegant fix.

Fix: "A curse word or a sarcastic phrase dropped innocently every now and then does not really make a difference."

Proper connections between elements are important because they help the reader to identify things that are equal/parallel in value and not to get lost in the sentence.

✏️ You turn.

Can you spot the mistake? How would you rewrite this sentence, making sure to connect elements properly? Try your hand in the comment.

"While writing a thesis, we sometimes succumb to common temptations like having another cappuccino with cinnamon, taking a pause to catch up with the news or to read a bit of a recently acquired novel."

🌸 PS: There is a stylistic device in creative writing called asyndeton—deliberate omission of a conjunction. But this device should be reserved for stylistic purposes and has no place in more conventional types of writing.