Some people may tell you that perfect grammar doesn’t really matter as long as you are understood. That may be true to a certain extent, but using the right words in the right order (and spelling them correctly) could mean the difference between getting your point across and having your meaning completely misconstrued. This is why you should be particularly careful when listing items.
In some ways, you could say that today’s Grammar 101 post is related to maintaining parallel structure, but that had to do with matching up the structure of the list items for consistency. Today, it’s more about making sure that you are conveying the right meaning.
The best way to illustrate the problem with list items is with an example that I found in a news article some time back.
Social factors such as social support, absence of corruption and personal freedoms are more important.
Do you see the problem? Strictly speaking, this sentence is grammatically correct, but it can lead some confusion and ambiguity. By using “absence of” in the second item, some readers may extend that to the third item. As such, a reader may understand the sentence to mean this:
Social factors such as social support, absence of corruption and absence of personal freedoms are more important.
Logically speaking, the “absence of personal freedoms” doesn’t make too much sense in this context. As I said, the sentence as it stands is technically correct, but the ambiguity can be easily alleviated by simply rearranging the items:
Social factors such as social support, personal freedoms, and absence of corruption are more important.
I added the Oxford comma there to further improve the understanding of the sentence, but it’s not really necessary.
Perfect grammar, good writing, and clear understanding do not always go hand-in-hand-in-hand. It’s wonderful when you are able to have all three, but realize that even if your sentence is grammatically correct, it may not be the best sentence for its intended purpose.
Only a closer look made me see the ambiguity. Understanding what something said or written means is a job more for the Chinese language users than for the English language users. The Chinese reader and listener takes the initiative in understanding, i.e. the meaning may not what it seems at first sight.
I’ve heard about this cultural difference. In the East, the onus is on the listener to figure out the meaning. In the West, the onus is on the speaker to convey a clear meaning and ensure that it is understood.
John Chow would be a great example of how grammar and spelling really doesn’t matter. He is wealthy, doesn’t have to worry about financial issues and is secure. His blog brings in more income than most people will make in 10 – 15 years.
As for the list items, in a very technical way I would agree with what you are saying. On the other hand, I understood the meaning because I used common sense to understand that it was a list of individual items with the “and” as construct to mean that the item after it was the last in the group. Taking thing too literal is a major problem with people today, which is why their are so many lawsuits, and why stores make so many rules you have to follow. Too many people trying to get anything they can for free, or bend/skirt the law/rules.
It really wasn’t as bad 30 years ago as it is today.
Interesting, I have never known that to be an issue but as you pointed out in your example I can see where things can be perceived wrong.
The spiral top, so there is no spine to batlte with, is a stroke of genius. This alone makes it so much more appealing to my son!I like how incremental it is. I did some extra reinforcement for adjectives and adverbs (which are a little more abstract than nouns and verbs) by pointing them out in sentences in other parts of our schoolwork, but when we got to them in Writing With Ease 3, kiddo has shown he has a good grasp on them.I am particularly pleased with how diagramming is going. By sprinkling a little here and a little there, it refreshes without frustration.At first I was frustrated by all the non-phonetic children’s names, but now that we are on 3, I appreciate them as little challenges for my son. We did 1 and 2 in about 10 months, starting on his second birthday. I don’t feel we lost any ground waiting until he was a little more confident with reading and spelling before starting. The contents are inoffensive and neutral , as far as religion is concerned. I do note there is the use of Mrs. and Miss rather than Ms. , which doesn’t bother me a bit, and might please those more firmly in the old-fashioned camp than I.