"A and B and C" or "A, B, C"

Question

This is an excerpt from my English textbook

Their parents take care of everything, from A to Z, not to mention tuition and room and board. Though many students work part time after school or during vacations, the money they earn is for their own personal use---for dates, for traveling, for club activities.

My question is about styles. Is it acceptable to write "A and B and C" or "A, B, C" in a formal writing?
I am not sure if you should be formal in a textbook but then how casual is it to write this way?
What is the advantage of writing casually over formally especially in this quote?

What part of the quote are you talking about? Is it, "tuition and room and board"? Where do you see, "A, B, C" format in this excerpt? — gotube, Dec 22 '21 at 00:09
@gotube The last part "for dates, for traveling, for club activities". Doesn't this count an informal writing? — Taro, Dec 22 '21 at 00:10

score 13 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 23 '21 at 09:17

13

Normally "A, B, and C" (and the comma after B is optional - see "Oxford comma")

Sometimes "A and B and C" can be used rhetorically: it can add emphasis to "C"

Sometimes "A, B, C" can be used to mean "A, B, C, and others"

However in your case, "room and board" is one item, like "fish and chips". "Room and board" is a type of rental deal in which the landlord provides both living space and food. So the list is composed of two things that the parents are paying for: tuition, and room and board.

At the end, the final "and" has been omitted from the list, this gives the impression of an open-ended list: students might use their money for these three things.... and other things that I haven't mentioned. That is a fairly informal style of writing - similar to the style in many newspapers and magazines.

edited Dec 23 '21 at 09:17

the-baby-is-you

5,512
23
28

answered Dec 22 '21 at 00:17

James K

217,650
16
258
452

2

While "room and board" is an idiomatic phrase, it actually does refer to two different things: "room" is accommodation, and "board" is food. If you're working for room and board, you're being paid with shelter and food. – nick012000 Dec 22 '21 at 05:56
5

@nick012000 Yes, just like "fish and chips" – James K Dec 22 '21 at 09:26
@JamesK Your example would be clearer if you put hyphens between fish and and and and and chips. :) – iBug Dec 22 '21 at 17:52
I think @nick012000's point is that some native speakers - me for example - would read it as a list of three separate items: (1) tuition, (2) room and (3) board. That is how I read it. I suspect that's partly because "room & board" is not an idiomatic expression in British English ("board and lodging" is the idiom). – Francis Davey Dec 22 '21 at 19:33
Yes, hyphens would be a good solution to avoid the ambiguity. – James K Dec 22 '21 at 19:55
@Francis. Like many idioms, room & board is idiomatic for some people in the UK. I, for instance, would use this and don't think I have heard board & lodging used naturally among peers before now. To add a small note to this answer, the ambiguity that the OP is struggling with indicates sloppy language in the quoted text. Sloppy language is common, so it's not a criticism so much as an observation for the OP. – Ciaran Haines Dec 23 '21 at 19:24

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 22 '21 at 00:17

It's uncommon and usually poor style to have a list of more than two things all separated by "and".

However, in this case, "room and board" is a single idiomatic expression, often written as "room & board". So it is one item in a list of two, not two items in a list of three.

As for a list with no "and", this is a common style to indicate that the list is not in fact finished. Here, the lack of "and" means that there are many other things in this list, and these are enough examples to give you the idea. It's about the same as writing:

..the money they earn is for their own personal use---for dates, for traveling, for club activities, etc.

"A and B and C" or "A, B, C"

2 Answers2