{"id":1682,"date":"2014-10-28T18:58:29","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T00:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1682"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:53:38","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:53:38","slug":"what-about-andor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/effective-writing\/what-about-andor\/","title":{"rendered":"What About and\/or<\/em>?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our recent article about the slash (\/) garnered interesting responses, none more fascinating than the email informing us that in several English-speaking countries, \u201cslash\u201d is a raunchy slang term.<\/p>\n

A couple of readers inquired about\u00a0and\/or<\/em>, for obvious reasons. Grammar books generally disregard the slash, but most of them have a lot to say about\u00a0and\/or<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In the 1920s the renowned English scholar H.W. Fowler dismissed\u00a0and\/or<\/em>\u00a0as an \u201cugly device\u201d that may be \u201ccommon and convenient in some kinds of official, legal, and business documents, but should not be allowed outside them.\u201d Strunk and White\u2019s\u00a0The Elements of Style<\/em>\u00a0says\u00a0and\/or<\/em>\u00a0\u201cdamages a sentence and often leads to confusion or ambiguity.\u201d Wilson Follett\u2019s\u00a0Modern American Usage<\/em>\u00a0calls\u00a0and\/or<\/em>\u00a0an \u201cungraceful expression\u201d that \u201chas no right to intrude in ordinary prose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several authorities recommend replacing\u00a0and\/or\u00a0<\/em>with\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0alone. As Follett points out, \u201cgenerally\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0includes\u00a0and<\/em>. The weatherman\u2019s\u00a0snow or sleet\u00a0tomorrow<\/em>\u00a0is no guarantee that we shall have only the one or the other.\u201d The following contemporary sentences could substitute\u00a0or\u00a0<\/em>for\u00a0and\/or\u00a0<\/em>with no appreciable change in meaning: \u201cHave you forgotten your user name and\/or password?\u201d \u201cCandidates can submit new and\/or additional documentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

However in certain sentences,\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0by itself cannot replace\u00a0and\/or<\/em>, as seen in this example from Theodore M. Bernstein\u2019s\u00a0The Careful Writer<\/em>: \u201cThe law allows a $25 fine and\/or thirty days in jail.\u201d Fowler offers a straightforward alternative: \u201cx or y or both of them<\/em>.\u201d Let\u2019s try it with Bernstein\u2019s sentence: \u201cThe law allows a $25 fine or thirty days in jail or both.\u201d Problem solved.<\/p>\n

Some\u00a0and\/or<\/em>\u00a0sentences cannot be justified under any circumstances. Consider this one, courtesy of a grammar website: \u201cYou can get to the campus for this morning\u2019s meeting on a bike and\/or in a car.\u201d Did you catch it? You can take a bike\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0a car but you wouldn\u2019t take both, so there is no excuse for the\u00a0and\/<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The slash these days is a shiny toy that everyone wants to play with. This may explain in part why\u00a0and\/or<\/em>, with its ersatz air of authority, is more popular than ever. The culture\u2019s bewildering infatuation with slash formations turns off a lot of writers, who go to great lengths to avoid them. Nonetheless, if in the course of your own writing you find one of those rare occasions that a slash is called for, by all means use it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you banish\u00a0<\/span>and\/or<\/em>\u00a0from these sentences? Suggested alternatives are below.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. No, Virginia, having more people and\/or businesses will not get you lower taxes.
\n2. Consider whether the audience will be able to view and\/or understand the illustration easily.
\n3. Here is how to change your password and\/or update your email address.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. No, Virginia, having more people\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0businesses will not get you lower taxes.
\n2. Consider whether the audience will be able to view\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0understand the illustration easily.
\n3. Here is how to change your password, update your email address,\u00a0or both<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our recent article about the slash (\/) garnered interesting responses, none more fascinating than the email informing us that in several English-speaking countries, \u201cslash\u201d is a raunchy slang term. A couple of readers inquired about\u00a0and\/or, for obvious reasons. Grammar books generally disregard the slash, but most of them have a lot to say about\u00a0and\/or. In […]<\/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-1682","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\/1682"}],"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=1682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}