Dealing with long labels containing "and" in scientific and formal writing

Question

Suppose we want to describe the following graph.

Consider the following sentence:

1 Salaries comprise three-fourths of the total budget, as opposed to building and transportation and technology, whose participation proportions are 17% and 8%, respectively.

Regarding this sentence, for the reader who has not seen the graph, it is unclear how to parse the phrase "building and transportation and technology". Are the categories "building and transportation" and "technology" or "building" and "transportation and technology"?

How should we deal with this situation? Can we put the labels of categories in quotation marks like this:

2 "Salaries" comprises three-fourths of the total budget, as opposed to "building and transportation" and "technology", whose participation proportions are 17% and 8%, respectively.

Any other suggestions?

Hello, alireza. Does this answer your question? How to punctuate "A and B and C" properly if "B and C" are cohesive, eg 'toast and bacon and eggs' = [toast] and [bacon and eggs]?? The 'long labels' and 'in scientific and formal writing' don't make a vast difference to the well-known problem. — Edwin Ashworth, Nov 06 '22 at 19:53
I'd go with "Building & Transportation and Technology." Or, "Building & Transportation at 17%, and Technology at 8%." Using as opposed to is not quite right. — Yosef Baskin, Nov 06 '22 at 19:55
Thanks. So the usage of quotation marks is completely wrong here and should I totally forget about them? — alireza, Nov 06 '22 at 20:37
Salaries comprise 75% of the total budget, as compared to buildings and transport (17%) and technology (8%). — Tinfoil Hat, Nov 06 '22 at 22:05
@YosefBaskin I can see that you have written the fist letters in capital case: "Building & Transportation and Technology." Or, "Building & Transportation at 17%, and Technology at 8%.". Is it correct and should I stick to this rule in a formal writing? Even in the graph it is "Building and transportation". — alireza, Nov 07 '22 at 19:33
Consistency is king, yes, and a little extra punch is better than ambiguous text. You choose a style and stay loyal. Building & Transport acts more like a category than ordinary words. — Yosef Baskin, Nov 07 '22 at 23:09

Dealing with long labels containing "and" in scientific and formal writing

0 Answers0