comma before 'and'/'as well as' [serial c.]: B , C and D and E and F

U

uktous

Senior Member
cantonese
Hi,

Question1:
Does as well as have the same meaning as and in my case?
Question2:
The sentences are too long, is it possible to use comma before the conjunction (and , as well as).
Question3:
Which sentence is incorrect?

Sentence1:
My hobbles include eating and drinking Japanese food, watching and playing football and learning and creating new things.
Sentence2:
My hobbles include eating and drinking Japanese food, watching and playing football ,and learning and creating new things.
Sentence3:
My hobbles include eating and drinking Japanese food, watching and playing football as well as learning and creating new things.
Sentence4:
My hobbles include eating and drinking Japanese food, watching and playing football ,as well as learning and creating new things.

My opinion:
And should be able to replace as well as. But the menaings are slightly different.
Sentence 2 is fine.
However, I am not sure about sentence4.

Thanks
 
    • I agree that as well as should be able to replace 'and'. I also agree that the punctuation in sentence 2 is better. I think that sentence 4 is the same.

    However, it is difficult for me to answer the question you have asked, because I find other things about the sentence distracting.

    Possibly you can eat and drink Japanese food; I am a little uncertain about this because you probably drink Japanese beverages and eat Japanese food. I would probably rephrase it.

    I agree that you can watch and play football.

    However I have trouble with learning [things] and making things, which I think is what you have in mind. The problem is that the category of things you learn is quite different from the category of things you make. On the other hand, if you don't want "things" to be the object of "learning", you need to punctuate it differently:
    ... watching and playing football, learning, and [OR: as well as] creating new things.
    ​
    If this is what you mean, I would also move the conjunction.
     
    To expand on what Cagey wrote, if you meant learning new things and creating new things, you should make that more clear:

    My hobbles include eating and drinking Japanese food, watching and playing football, learning new things, and creating new things.

    The problem of eating and drinking Japanese food still exists. And now there's a new problem: it says "new things" twice in a row, which is poor form. Without knowing exactly what you like learning and creating, it's hard for us to suggest an alternative to one of them.

    As well as can replace and, but why use three words instead of one? I'd stick with "and"--it's more direct.
     
    Pertinax said:
    You had better change "hobbles" to "hobbies", too. :)
    Click to expand...

    Thank you for all replies.

    My friend told me that as well as is a subordinating conjunction, so sentence 3 and 4 are wrong.
    And is a coordinating conjunction which is needed for my sentence.



    If we insist to use as well as, we could rewrite the sentence as:

    Sentence5:
    My hobbles include eating and drinking Japanese food, and watching and playing football, as well as learning and creating new things.

    Anyone agree?
     
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top