<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Whether you realize it or not, you\u2019re well acquainted with correlative conjunctions<\/strong>. It\u2019s a lofty term for phrases people say every day. The most common correlative conjunctions include either\u00a0\u2026\u00a0or<\/em>, neither\u00a0\u2026\u00a0nor<\/em>, not\u00a0only\u00a0\u2026\u00a0but\u00a0also<\/em>, and both\u00a0\u2026\u00a0and<\/em>. Here is a list of other familiar ones:<\/p>\n \u2022 whether <\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u2026 or<\/span><\/strong><\/em> People constantly mishandle correlative conjunctions. This is due to faulty parallelism<\/strong>, which we discussed last week. Look at these innocent-looking sentences:<\/p>\n \u2022 Either<\/em><\/strong> you\u2019re with me or<\/strong> against me<\/em>. All three are flawed.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll notice that the sentences each contain two sections. The second section should parallel the first one as closely as possible. However, in the first example, Either<\/em> is followed by a complete sentence (you\u2019re with me<\/em>), but or<\/em> is followed only by a phrase (against me<\/em>). That is a classic case of faulty parallelism.<\/p>\n To fix it, we could add a second you\u2019re<\/em> to the or<\/em> section: Either you\u2019re with me or you\u2019re against me<\/em>. Another option is to place you\u2019re<\/em> in front of the entire either-or<\/em> construction: You\u2019re either with me or against me<\/em>. When we do this, You\u2019re<\/em> governs both the either<\/em> and the or<\/em> parts, and both parts consist of prepositional phrases (with me<\/em>, against me<\/em>). That makes a clear, balanced sentence.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s home in on the second example. Since She <\/em>precedes the entire correlative conjunction (not\u00a0only\u00a0\u2026\u00a0but\u00a0also<\/em>), She <\/em>affects both parts equally, making the second she <\/em>unnecessary: She not only invited us in but also cooked dinner<\/em>. Our other choice is to rewrite the first part to match the second: Not only did she invite us in but she also cooked dinner<\/em>.<\/p>\n On to the final one. Removing the second he was <\/em>gives us He was both happy about the promotion and nervous about it<\/em>. Note that each component now features an adjective (happy<\/em>, nervous<\/em>), a preposition (about<\/em>), and a noun (promotion<\/em>, it<\/em>). You can\u2019t get more parallel than that. But we can do even better: He was both happy and nervous about the promotion<\/em>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no avoiding sentences with correlative conjunctions. Making sure they are parallel lends clarity and style to speech and writing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n Are these sentences parallel? If not, can you fix them?<\/p>\n 1. Not only am I angry but disappointed.<\/p>\n 2. The book both fascinated me and it taught me a good lesson.<\/span><\/p>\n 3. She\u2019d rather stay at home than to go out.<\/p>\n 4. I had hardly left when you arrived.<\/p>\n 5. He\u2019s either going today or he\u2019ll be going tomorrow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. I am <\/em>not only angry but disappointed. OR<\/strong> Not only am I angry but I am<\/em> disappointed.<\/p>\n 2. The book both fascinated me and taught<\/em> me a good lesson.<\/span><\/p>\n 3. She\u2019d rather stay at home than go<\/em> out.<\/p>\n 4. Hardly had<\/em> I left<\/em> when you arrived.<\/p>\n 5. He\u2019s either going today or going tomorrow<\/em>. OR<\/strong> Either he\u2019s<\/em> going today or he\u2019ll be going tomorrow. OR<\/strong> He\u2019s going either<\/em> today<\/em> or tomorrow<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whether you realize it or not, you\u2019re well acquainted with correlative conjunctions. It\u2019s a lofty term for phrases people say every day. The most common correlative conjunctions include either\u00a0\u2026\u00a0or, neither\u00a0\u2026\u00a0nor, not\u00a0only\u00a0\u2026\u00a0but\u00a0also, and both\u00a0\u2026\u00a0and. Here is a list of other familiar ones: \u2022 whether \u2026 or \u2022 rather \u2026 than \u2022 as many \u2026 as \u2022 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-effective-writing"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span><\/strong>\u2022 rather \u2026 than<\/em>
\n\u2022 as many \u2026 as<\/em>
\n\u2022 just as \u2026 so<\/em>
\n\u2022 hardly (or scarcely) \u2026 when<\/em>
\n\u2022 no sooner \u2026 than<\/em>
\n\u2022 what with \u2026 and<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 She not only<\/strong> invited us in but<\/strong> she also<\/strong> cooked dinner<\/em>.
\n\u2022 He was both<\/strong> happy about the promotion and<\/strong> he was nervous about it.<\/em><\/p>\n