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Those of you who enjoy my grammar posts may wish to stop by the Novel Spaces blog and see my Sunday, 5 September 2010, post. I discuss the difference between grammar and style and how to know what style to use in the manuscript you're working on.

Double trouble: correlative conjunctions

In a previous post, I discussed coordinating conjunctions such as "and" and "but." Today's topic is correlative conjunctions, that is, the conjunctions used in pairs to link words, phrases, or clauses. The correlative conjunctions include:
• either . . . or
• neither . . . nor
• both . . . and
• not only . . . but also
• though . . . yet
• whether . . . or
• as . . . as
• if . . . then
• rather . . . than

Here are correlative conjunctions used correctly in sentences.

• Both Joe and Bob are going to the con.
• Neither Joe nor Bob plans to wear Bob's Klingon costume.
• Joe owns a pair of blue gauze wings with sequins, so he will dress either as a fairy or as a butterfly.
• If Joe chooses to dress as a butterfly, then Bob will dress as a cocoon.
• Susan not only wants to wear Joe's wings herself but also is angry that he refused her plea to borrow them.
• Susan has not yet decided whether to wear Bob's Klingon costume or to sew a new costume.
• Joe would rather stay home than wear Bob's ratty Klingon uniform.

A few simple rules govern their use.

1. Use both halves of the conjunction. 

Examples of breaking this rule:

• Neither Joe or Bob plans to dress as a Klingon. This is wrong because "neither" pairs  with "nor," not "or."

• Susan not only wants to wear Joe's wings herself but is angry that he refused her plea to borrow them. This is wrong because "not only" pairs with "but also," not "but."

• If Joe chooses to dress as a butterfly, Bob will dress as a cocoon. This is wrong because "if" pairs with "then." However, when the meaning is clear, many editors would consider it acceptable to leave out the "then" in an "if . . . then" construction.

2. The two halves of the conjunction should join equal and parallel parts of speech—two nouns, for example, or two prepositional phrases or two predicates.

This rule sounds easy, but in practice, it can be tricky to make the parts of speech equal. Examples of breaking this rule:

• Susan has not yet decided whether to wear Bob's Klingon costume or stay home from the con. This is wrong because the first half of the conjunction introduces a prepositional phrase starting with "to," whereas the second half of the conjunction introduces a predicate. The solution is to add a "to" after the "or."

• Joe plans to wear neither Bob's Klingon costume nor to wear last year's Superman costume. This is wrong because the first part of speech is a noun phrase, whereas the second is a prepositional phrase. The second "to wear" should be cut.

• The study subjects included both 60 Alaskan husky dogs and 170 other breeds. This is wrong because "60 dogs" is not parallel to "170 breeds." One possible fix is, "The study subjects included both 60 Alaskan husky dogs and 350 dogs from 170 other breeds."

3. When "either . . . or" or "neither . . . nor" join subjects, the verb matches the second subject. When both subjects are singular, then the verb is singular, even though there are two subjects.


All of the following are correct sentences:

• Neither I nor my sister is giving the bride a gift.
• Neither my sister nor my brothers are attending the wedding.
• Neither my brothers nor my sister is attending the wedding.
• Either my sister or I am going to tell the bride why.

4. Correlative conjunctions join two elements. Exceptions to this rule can be made for most correlative conjunctions except "neither . . . nor" and "either . . . or."

Examples of breaking this rule:

• On the day of the wedding, my sister plans to be either unavailable, unwell, or unhinged. This is wrong because the conjunction joins three elements. Also, it is impolite to attend a wedding unhinged.

• Neither Joe, Bob, nor Cindy want to wear the Klingon uniform. This is wrong because the conjunction joins three elements.

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Coming soon

• guest blog post by Linda Weaver Clarke

• interview with author Steve Malley

A joining of equals: a look at coordinating conjunctions

The coordinating conjunctions—and, but, for, nor, or—are, when I am wearing my copyeditor's hat, my favorite parts of speech, for writers make few mistakes when using them.

cats and cushion covers (A comma after "cats" would be wrong.)

Coordinating conjunctions are conjunctions that join sentence elements of the same type (noun, predicate, clause, and so on) and weight (they do not join independent and dependent clauses).

I won't spell out the rules for using coordinating conjunctions. (If you have a question, feel free to ask in the comments.) Instead, I'll focus on the problems I most often see.

Tricky point 1: "including"

A list following the word "including" should contain "and," not "or":

• I bought groceries yesterday, including eggs, milk, and bread.

"Including" means that all of the items that follow are part of the whole. So "and" is the proper conjunction.

If you give a complete list of items, then do not use "including."

Tricky point 2: lists of options

The word "and/or" is not an error, but it makes your sentence clunk. Use "or" when you have a list of choices:

• Please bring ouzo, grapes, or cheese to the party.

The hostess does not forbid you to bring grapes if you bring cheese; she merely offers options. As in many sentences with "or," the idea is not to limit the choices to one item but to say that at least one item is needed. Save "and/or" for legal writing or other occasions in which you need a belt-and-suspenders approach.

When you need "or" to limit the options to one, try a construction such as this:

• You may have either plum sorbet or chocolate-covered ants for dessert.

Tricky point 3: punctuation of two elements

When two complete sentences are joined by a coordinating conjunction, always put a comma before the "and" unless the sentences are very short.

• Mary pieces her quilts by hand, but I prefer to use a sewing machine.

When you have two predicates (or two adjectives or prepositional phrases), treat them as items in a series. Two items in a series are never separated by a comma unless a misunderstand could result.

• "You were my last hope," the dragon said and blew his nose. (no chance of confusion)
• "You were my last hope," the dragon said, and cried. (Without the comma, the reader may think he said it and then cried it out.)

If you want or need to create a space between two predicates, rewriting the sentence is preferable to using a comma:

• "You were my last hope," the dragon said and then loudly blew his nose. 

• "You were my last hope," the dragon said. He pulled out a lacy handkerchief and blew his nose.

• "You were my last hope," the dragon said. He blew his nose.

• "You were my last hope." The dragon blew his nose.

Tricky point 4: nonparallel elements

When elements in a row are not parallel, do not treat them as a series. An example of this mistake would be, "The tomcat is long, white, and wears a pink rhinestone collar." This sentence is wrong because there are two levels of parallel constructions here: "long" and "white" are parallel adjectives, and "is long [and] white" and "wears a ... collar" are parallel predicates. (Also, tomcats should not wear pink rhinestone collars.) The punctuation should reflect these two levels:

• The tomcat is long and white and wears a pink rhinestone collar.

• The tomcat is long and white, and he wears a pink rhinestone collar.

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Coming soon

• correlative conjunctions (both . . . and, neither . . . nor, not . . . but, not only . . . but also, whether . . . or)

• interview with author Steve Malley

Uses of the semicolon

A friend recently sent me a New York Times article that spent twenty paragraphs celebrating the correct use of the semicolon in an ad in a subway car.

Clearly, the semicolon has fallen on hard times.

Yet this punctuation mark has much to offer the writer: improved clarity, a pause between clauses shorter than a period, and variety in sentence style, length, rhythm, and formality. This post describes three proper uses of the semicolon.

1. To denote a wink in the emoticon ;-) (apparently now the most common use)

2. To prevent the dreaded comma splice. A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses (that is, a set of words that contain a subject and a verb and express a complete thought) are jammed together with a comma. For example:

• Do not meow at the writer, she has already fed you lunch. Danger, Will Robinson! Comma splice! Abort mission!
• Do not meow at the writer. She has already fed you lunch. Correct!
• Do not meow at the writer; she has already fed you lunch. Also correct!
• Do not meow at the writer, because she has already fed you lunch. Correct as well!

Notice that the semicolon is less abrupt than the period but more abrupt than the conjunction. The semicolon is also more formal than either. Your choice between the three correct versions depends on the sentences around it, your audience, and your personal preference and style.

3. To make lists clear. Commas usually separate items in a list. But sometimes, the items themselves contain commas, potentially confusing the reader. In these cases, semicolons replace commas between the list items.

For example, take the sentence:

I went to the park with my dog, Harry, my cat, Ron, my sister, Hermione, and Professor Dumbledore.

How many accompanied me to the park? As written, seven individuals did. But what if Harry is the name of my dog? Semicolons are needed. The sentences below show how replacing the commas with semicolons clarifies the list:

• I went to the park with my dog, Harry; my cat, Ron; my sister, Hermione; and Professor Dumbledore. (four individuals)
• I went to the park with my dog; Harry; my cat, Ron; my sister, Hermione; and Professor Dumbledore. (five individuals)
• I went to the park with my dog; Harry; my cat; Ron; my sister, Hermione; and Professor Dumbledore. (six individuals)

If a sentence clunks along or calls attention to itself when you add semicolons between list items, it’s best to rewrite it. Possible rewrites of the above sentence, depending on the knowledge of your reader, include:

• I went to the park with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Professor Dumbledore.
• I went to the park with Hermione, Professor Dumbledore, and my pets, Harry and Ron.
• My sister, Hermione, went to the park with Professor Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, and me. Harry and Ron are my dog and cat.

Sometimes, a list item can contain commas yet be perfectly clear, so no semicolons are needed. Here is an example:

Yet this punctuation mark has much to offer the writer: improved clarity, a pause between clauses shorter than a period, and variety in sentence style, length, rhythm, and formality.

The reason this list does not need semicolons is that the words “period, and” signal that the last item of the list follows. The remaining commas in the sentence, therefore, do not confuse.

Phrasal verbs: Cool, but often misused

You may never have heard of “phrasal verbs,” but you use them all the time. Phrasal verbs—also called compound verbs—consist of a verb (often of Anglo-Saxon ancestry) plus a preposition or an adverb. English contains thousands of these chimeras.

Like the mythological Chimera, the phrasal verb is often more than the sum of its parts: The meanings of the verb and preposition bend, twist, and warp in unexpected ways when combined. For example, take “grind”*:

• grind away at (person): needle, criticize, or nag continually
• grind away at (thing): crush something continually into particles
  
• grind (thing) away: remove something by grinding
• grind (person) down: wear someone down by constant requests or nagging
• grind (thing) down: make something smooth or even by grinding
• grind (thing) into (thing): pulverize something into powder; crush or rub one thing into another
• grind on: drag on endlessly
• grind out: produce something in a mechanical manner
• grind (thing) to (thing): grind something until it is something else
• grind to a halt: slow and stop
• grind (things) together: rub things together
• grind (thing) up: pulverize or crush

As a copyeditor, I’ve seen three phrasal verb mistakes over and over.

1. Tangled sentence due to reluctance to end a sentence with a preposition. I can give no better example than Winston Churchill’s tongue-in-cheek comment on this mistake: “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.”

2. Wrong preposition. Like “grind,” many verbs can pair up with several different prepositions and adverbs. The most common confusion is probably between “compare to” and “compare with.” “Compare with” is used when comparing how people or things are alike or different: “Compared with last spring, this spring has been cold and rainy.” “Compare to” is used when likening one person or thing to another, as in William Shakespeare's “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Dictionaries often give examples of phrasal uses of a verb after its definitions, so if you’re not sure which preposition to use, you may be able to find the answer there.

3. Missing preposition in a sentence with two phrasal verbs. Because phrasal verbs are so common in English, two or more often end up in a sentence together. It’s okay to drop a preposition when both verbs take the same one, as in, “We were excluded and banned from the party.” “From” does double duty. Problems arise, however, with sentences such as, “We were banned and thrown out of the party,” which should be, “We were banned from and thrown out of the party.”

*Examples and definitions based on NTC’s Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and Other Idiomatic Verbal Phrases by Richard A. Spears.