If I want the following to mean that the ducks are either red and blue, or red and orange, does it require a comma and, if so, where?
The ducks are red and blue or orange.
Friday, April 24, 2020
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Posted by
ket
at
7:48 PM
11 comments:
The ducks are red and also either blue or orange.
The ducks are either red and blue or red and orange.
Comma after red, I think. With no punctuation it's ambiguous. It could mean what you want. Or it could mean that some are entirely red and others are blue and orange.
What prompted this fun dilemma?
I'm on board with T.
The ducks are red, and blue or orange.
I guess I'm confused. Are there red ducks and either orange ducks or blue ducks? Or, are the ducks red/orange or red/blue?
The way Tanya parsed, I think the ducks are single colored.
I also agree with Tanya.
Thank you, all! The ducks are bi-colored. All have red, some also have orange while others also have blue.
Somehow I agreed to edit a book titled "Descent and Logic in Biosystematics." It's a lot about taxonomic systems and the author defines his own vocabulary. One of the sentences mushed my brain for how to punctuate it. I attempted to create a structurally similar but less wordy example to assist with clarity.
Ahh. I think if you say "The ducks are red, and orange or blue." it may be correct, but depending on the rest of the context may also be somewhat ambiguous.
As a linguistic exercise, this is fun. However, if you're editing a book, I would suggest a complete rephrasing for clarity.
Really agree with T this time!
Totally! Thank you : )
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