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I was always under the impression I should not use and more than once. I have this text:

I appreciate that all my previous work experience is within office based industries however I am a quick learner, keen and enthusiastic and am looking to change to ensure longevity of career and that the remainder of my working life is spent doing something that I enjoy and that I can feel passionate about.

Are there too many ands in that sentence?

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  • Thanks for pointing out the specific issue you're asking about.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented Jul 30, 2014 at 13:42
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    Whoever told you that you should not use and more than once in a sentence? However, yes, your sentence seems to go on and on and on and on... Try starting a new sentence every once in a while, it will make your sentence(s) much easier to read :)
    – oerkelens
    Commented Jul 30, 2014 at 13:46
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    The sentence would be easier to read if you split into two sentences at one of those ands. At over 50 words, it's on the long side.
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Commented Jul 30, 2014 at 14:32
  • A journalism instructor once advised me and my fellow students to keep our sentences to 30 words or fewer. This is advice that has served me well many a time. Often when I find a sentence I've written hard to read or understand, it is because it is too long. Chopping the sentence down, like the pruning of a tree, does wonders for clarity and understanding. You will read well crafted sentences of more than 30 words, so it is not a hard and fast rule, but it is advice that may serve you well.
    – Lisa Beck
    Commented Jul 23, 2016 at 22:02

3 Answers 3

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You can certainly use more than one and in a sentence, and the rhetorical device is called polysyndeton.

At school today, we had sums and writing and play and dinner and a story and a prayer and then I came home.

Good writing style usually advocates a variety of sentence lengths. Some can be very short. You can certainly use and to join two related clauses together, and within one or both of those, you might use and as well.

One way of expressing what you want is as follows. I've also indicated changes in bold. Separate the different ideas into discrete sentences. If necessary, separate each of those sentences again.

I appreciate that all my previous work experience is within office based industries but I am a quick learner, keen and enthusiastic, so although the change appears drastic, I am confident that I can manage it. I am looking to change to ensure longevity of career and also that the remainder of my working life is spent doing something that I enjoy and can feel passionate about.

I appreciate that all my previous work experience is within office based industries but I am a quick learner, keen and enthusiastic, so although the change appears drastic, I am confident that I can manage it. I am looking to change to ensure longevity of career and also that the remainder of my working life is spent doing something that I enjoy and that I can feel passionate about.

You'll need something more concrete than "I am confident that I can manage it", of course.

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  • Thank you so much for this, been struggling with it all afternoon! Not only has this helped but I have learnt something also :-)
    – Andrew Hardiman
    Commented Jul 30, 2014 at 14:14
  • I have come up with the following:
    – Andrew Hardiman
    Commented Jul 30, 2014 at 14:15
  • Although all my previous work experience is within the office environment, I am looking to change to ensure that the remainder of my working life is spent doing something that I enjoy and that I can feel passionate about. I am a quick learner, keen and enthusiastic and confident in my ability to adapt to a different career.
    – Andrew Hardiman
    Commented Jul 30, 2014 at 14:16
  • Great. You need a comma after enthusiastic. Don't forget to upvote anything useful and accept an answer which helped (which might not be mine; choose the one which helped most).
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented Jul 30, 2014 at 14:18
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If you had a sign writer write a sign for your pub and you got this: The fox and the hen. You might say to the signwriter: "You have left too much space between fox and "and" and "and" and the hen".
That is and 5 times and consecutive.

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There is nothing that would stop you from using 'and' multiple times, but if you are to list things, using a comma is better. Example: "I like to play football, ride my bike, play guitar and hang with friends." Instead of "I like to play football and ride my bike and play guitar and hang with friends".

In your case, you are listing qualities for what I assume is a resume for a job. In this case you want a clean text, using 'and' then like you've done doesn't really help that out, I'm afraid. Try instead to list your qualities as demonstrated in my example, put your finest quality last. Such as: "I am a quick learner, keen, enthusiastic and looking to change in order to ensure longevity of career, to ensure that I will keep working with what I enjoy and feel passionate about."

To kinda sum up my point, there is no actual rules saying you can't use 'and' too much, but it is certainly a wise idea to keep the use of it down so your text looks cleaner.

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