Both parallel and pleasing

Originally published by Wayne Schiess.

Mastering correlative conjunctions

My books: Legal Writing Nerd: Be One, Plain Legal Writing: Do It.

Have you ever given much thought to the pairs of words we use to create parallel constructions that make for pleasing prose? Like this:

• The argument was not only long but also

and this:

• Counsel may either agree with or oppose the decision.

The boldface words are called correlative conjunctions, and they come in pairs. Here are the most common:

• both … and
• either … or
• neither … nor
• not only … but also

Those are the most commonly used correlative conjunctions, but there are others. Some sources add these:

• if … then
• just as … so [also]
• whether … or

Legal-writing expert Bryan Garner lists six more for a total of 13.[1]

Here I’ll focus on the four most common and address two rules professional legal writers follow when using correlative conjunctions.

The most important rule is that the part of speech that follows the first conjunction must also follow the second. That is, if a verb follows the first conjunction in the pair, a verb must follow the second conjunction. So below, A and B must be the same part of speech:

• both A … and B
• either A … or B
• neither A … nor B
• not only A … but also B

A and B must be syntactically identical: both nouns, both verbs, both prepositions, and so on. Some examples:

Not this:    Many lawyers are not only smart but also think creatively.

• Smart (adjective) and think (verb) are not the same part of speech.

 But this:    Many lawyers are not only smart but also creative.

• Smart and creative are both adjectives.

Another example:

Not this:    The court was neither willing to look at the owner’s acts in creating a hazard, nor at the dangers created when customers knocked items onto the floor.

• The faulty correlative parallelism arises because neither precedes willing (verb) and nor precedes at (preposition).

 But this:    The court was willing neither to look at the owner’s acts in creating a hazard, nor to consider the dangers created when customers knocked items onto the floor.

• The correlative conjunctions are now parallel: neither to look … nor to consider.

 Or this:     The court was willing to look neither at the owner’s acts in creating a hazard, nor at the dangers created when customers knocked items onto the floor.

• The correlatives are parallel: neither at … nor at.

On to the second rule. A minor writing error occurs when writers use nor for the second phrase or clause in a sentence that did not begin with a phrase or clause using neither, like this:

• The Court did not review the pleadings nor discuss the arguments.

That example misuses nor. Why? Bryan Garner says that in these constructions, “or is generally better than nor.” The initial negative—not in our example, “carries through to all the elements ….”[2] So the sentence is preferably written this way:

• The Court did not review the pleadings or discuss the arguments.

This problem with nor goes away if you break the one sentence into two and are willing to begin with nor:

• The Court did not review the pleadings. Nor did it discuss the arguments.

One more pointer. Don’t forget that with constructions using or or nor, the verb agrees in number with the nearest subject—the one right before the verb. So in the following examples, the verb check should agree with husband:

Not this:    Every night, either the defendant or her husband check that the store alarm is set.

But this:    Every night, either the defendant or her husband checks that the store alarm is set.

Granted, the rules discussed here are fine points, but professional legal writers follow them because they create parallel structures that are clear and pleasing to read.

My books: Legal Writing Nerd: Be One, Plain Legal Writing: Do It.

[1] Bryan A. Garner, Garner’s Modern English Usage 225 (4th ed. 2016).

[2] Id. at 632.

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