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Here is an example of my sentence:

The physical therapy visit was not dated, did not contain the name or date of service, and therefore could not be validated.

Someone is trying to correct me and say that I need to put “it” before "did not contain the name or date of service". I don’t think that’s correct.

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    It's not necessary, but if you did choose to, you would need another "it" before "could not be validated". Commented Mar 29 at 11:19
  • In these cases look for parallelism, which you have: The visit Verb-A, Verb-B, and Verb-C. Watch for: The visit Verb-A, Verb-B, and Adjective. Commented Mar 29 at 12:27
  • This isn't a comment about the structure of the sentence, but "visit" seems to be the wrong word here. The rest of the sentence appears to be about a document of some sort, not the physical therapy session itself - something like "report" or "record" or "certificate" or "letter" might be a better choice.
    – Tevildo
    Commented Mar 29 at 13:22

1 Answer 1

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The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Huddleston and Pullum 2002) states:

Coordination of finite VPs
One category that occurs freely with coordinators but not with prepositions is that of finite VP:

4-- i-- She finished the report and went home.

[p. 1291. The portion in bold is underlined in the original text.]

The Original poster's example, like (4) above, has a single subject and a coordination of finite verb phrases (VPs). In the Original Poster's case the sentence has three VPs, and as is typically the case only has an overt coordinator, the word and, before the last coordinate:

The physical therapy visit [was not dated], [did not contain the name or date of service], and [could not be validated].

The Original Poster's examples is, therefore, perfectly grammatical.

Note, also, that the coordinates in a coordination must all have the same grammatical status. In the Original Poster's example they are all Predicate VPs. If we added the word it before the second coordinate, then the whole sentence would become ungrammatical. We would then have a coordination of two full finite clauses with a VP. The resulting lack of equivalence means that such a structure is ungrammatical. Of course, we could fix that either by splitting the example into two sentences, or by sticking a subject in before the third coordinate, which would make then make the three coordinates equivalent.

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  • << The physical therapy visit was not dated and did not contain the name or date of service. And it therefore could not be validated. >> is fine if like the majority of Anglophones one doesn't consider sentence-initial and verboten. Hence << The physical therapy visit was not dated and did not contain the name or date of service; [and] it therefore could not be validated. >> is arguably acceptable. Commented Mar 29 at 15:28
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    @EdwinAshworth They aren't coordinates thought. Cuz they ain't coordinated! Commented Mar 29 at 15:42
  • You left out therefore. If these were coordinates, therefore could not be validated could go anywhere among the coordinates. But it can’t. Try: The physical therapy visit was not dated and did not contain the name or date of service; therefore it could not be validated. Commented Mar 30 at 2:57
  • @TinfoilHat Que? Are you saying that "I lost my keys and consequently couldn't get into the house" is not a coordination? And what's the grammatical status of "and therefore could not be validated"? Commented Mar 31 at 9:55

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