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I've continually struggled with this sentence arrangement. I have a list of 2 groups, but one of the groups is also a group of 2. Example:

"I need help finding turtles and brown and grey foxes"

The multiple "and's" makes the sentence awkward and confusing.

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  • Wouldn't a better example of a poorer arrangement be "I need help finding brown and grey foxes and turtles."? Rearranging it the way you do disambiguates. As does adding a comma / pause: "I need help finding brown and grey foxes, and turtles." With more complex situations, using & as a lower-level 'and' is used by some: "I can't decide between fish & chips, and bacon & eggs."
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 16:38
  • I agree, better example; although, as I commented below, I feel the added comma ",and turtles" feels dissociated from the "finding brown and grey foxes". The added comma is entirely acceptable then? I do like the idea of '&' for less formal documents. Thanks!
    – Michael
    Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 20:03
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    There is not a hint of error in adding the comma. I can understand your feeling about the shift it might be taken to imply, but most people take the multi-purpose nature of the comma in their stride. Reading out "I need help finding brown and grey foxes, and turtles." people would probably use different stress (than for the comma-less version) rather than just add a pause.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 20:58
  • Given that the subgroup of two won't always share a common adjective, I think noting that the comma here is doing exactly what the comma is meant to do, and suits the purpose well. It isn't awkward at all.
    – anongoodnurse
    Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 21:41

3 Answers 3

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You could try use 'as well as'. This makes it clear that they're separate elements.

I need help finding turtles as well as brown and grey foxes.

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"I need help finding turtles and brown and grey foxes" is actually unambiguous. You could however add a comma after "turtles" just to make it even clearer.

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  • I know it's technically correct, but from a cursory read it's initially confusing.. "turtles and brown and grey". I've also considered "I need help finding turtles, and brown and grey foxes" but that makes it feel like 'and brown and grey foxes' is some weird fragment after 'I need help finding turtles'.
    – Michael
    Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 19:33
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I can't help but saying you should possibly reword your second conjunction with "brown foxes and grey foxes." This way, you can say "I need help finding turtles, brown foxes, and grey foxes."

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  • This is the approach I often use, but is certainly the least elegant and (often) disapproved by peers. Thank you for the input though!
    – Michael
    Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 0:39

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