Grammar and Writing Tips - Correlative Conjunctions Can You Both Have Your Cake and Eat it too

Grammar and Writing Tips - Correlative Conjunctions Can You Both Have Your Cake and Eat it too If you are writing a college essay, resume or cover letter, you will benefit from this grammar tip on structuring sentences using correlative conjunctions.   A correlative conjunction is a conjunction used with another conjunction that is necessary to complete the thought. Both/and is a popular correlative conjunction pair.   (Other common examples are either/or and not only/but also.)   The word â€Å"both,† when used as a correlative conjunction, is always paired with the word â€Å"and.† For example, â€Å"I like both John and his dad.† Here’s the tricky part of correlative conjunctions:   The objects or actions they refer to, i.e., the items that fall both before and after the second conjunction (in this case â€Å"and†) MUST be parallel in construction.   They must, for example, be two nouns or two verbs or two of the same SOMETHING. In the examples above, â€Å"John† and â€Å"his dad† are both nouns and are thus parallel; â€Å"before† and â€Å"after† are both prepositions and are thus parallel.   Here are some more correct ways to use both/and: CORRECT:   That day I saw both the sunrise and the sunset. [â€Å"the sunrise† is parallel to â€Å"the sunset.†] CORRECT:   That day I saw the sun both rise and set. [â€Å"rise† is parallel to â€Å"set.†] What people often do is to insert their conjunctions in the wrong place. Fix #1: INCORRECT:   Why is it so hard to accept that someone can both be a woman and a doctor? See how the phrase after â€Å"both† (â€Å"be a woman†) is not parallel to the phrase after â€Å"and† (â€Å"a doctor†)?   â€Å"Be a woman† is a verb phrase, but â€Å"a doctor† is a noun phrase. How can we fix it?   Just move the word â€Å"both†: CORRECT:   Why is it so hard to accept that someone can be both a woman and a doctor? [â€Å"a woman† is parallel to â€Å"a doctor.†] Fix #2: INCORRECT:   I was interrogated for hours both in Italian and English. [â€Å"in Italian† is not parallel to â€Å"English.†] CORRECT:   I was interrogated for countless hours in both Italian and English. [â€Å"Italian† is parallel to â€Å"English.†] Fix #3: INCORRECT:   I’ve always been committed to progress both in my knowledge and skills. [See the error?] CORRECT:   I’ve always been committed to progress in both my knowledge and my skills. [â€Å"my knowledge is parallel to â€Å"my skills.†] Fix #4 INCORRECT:   I realized I could use this skill both to help myself and the entire student body. CORRECT:   I realized I could use this skill to help both myself and the entire student body. These errors are often hard to catch in your own writing.   They are extremely common!   I recommend doing a search for the word â€Å"both† in your document. Did you use your correlative conjunctions correctly?   Let us know what you found! Need more writing help?   Contact The Essay Expert for a FREE 15 minute consultation.

Facts and Figures About Seismosaurus

Facts and Figures About Seismosaurus Most paleontologists refer to Seismosaurus (pronounced SIZE-moe-SORE-us), the earthquake lizard, as a deprecated genusthat is, a dinosaur that was once thought to be unique, but has since been demonstrated to belong to an already existing genus. Size of the Seismosaurus Once considered among the biggest and most impressive of all dinosaurs, most experts now agree that the house-sized Seismosaurus was probably an unusually large species of the much better-known Diplodocus. Theres also a distinct possibility that Seismosaurus wasnt quite as big as once believed. Some researchers now say this late Jurassic sauropod weighed as little as 25 tons and was considerably shorter than its stated length of 120 feet, though not everyone agrees with these drastically scaled-down estimates. By this accounting, Seismosaurus was a mere runt compared to the gigantic titanosaurs that lived millions of years later, such as Argentinosaurus and Bruhathkayosaurus. Discovering the Seismosaurus Seismosaurus has an interesting taxonomic history. Its type fossil was discovered by a trio of hikers, in New Mexico in 1979, but it was only in 1985 that the paleontologist David Gillette embarked on a detailed study. In 1991, Gillette published a paper announcing Seismosaurus halli, which in a burst of reckless enthusiasm he said may have measured over 170 feet long from head to tail. This certainly generated impressive newspaper headlines, but one imagines it didnt do much for Gillettes reputation, as his fellow scientists re-checked the evidence and calculated much more petite proportions (in the process, of course, stripping Seismosaurus of its genus status). The (indisputably) extreme length of Seismosaurus neck- at 30 to 40 feet, it was much longer than the necks of most other sauropod genera, with the possible exception of the Asian Mamenchisaurus- raises an interesting question: could this dinosaurs heart possibly have been strong enough to pump blood all the way to the top of its head? This may seem like an arcane question, but it bears on the controversy of whether or not plant-eating dinosaurs, like their meat-eating cousins, were equipped with warm-blooded metabolisms. Its most likely that Seismosaurus held its neck roughly parallel to the ground, sweeping its head back and forth like the hose of a giant vacuum cleaner, rather than in the more taxing vertical position. Quick Facts Habitat: Woodlands of southern North AmericaHistorical Period: Late Jurassic (155-145 million years ago)Size and Weight: About 90 to 120 feet long and 25 to 50 tons.Diet:LeavesDistinguishing Characteristics: Enormous body; quadrupedal posture; long neck with relatively small head