SENTENCES

How to avoid excessive use of ‘and’ while

speaking and writing
• 1. I like tea and coffee both.
• (Without and) I like tea as well as coffee.
• OR
• (Without and) I like not only tea but also coffee.
• 2. Alice made the chocolate muffins and Barbara decorated them.
• (Without and) Alice made the chocolate muffins, which Barbara decorated.
• 3. It was getting dark and we haven’t reached our destination yet.
• (Without and) It was getting dark but we haven’t reached our destination yet.
• 4. Malls are great shopping places and we can find everything we need under one roof.
• (Without and) Malls are great shopping places since we can find everything we need under one roof.
• Otherwise, as suggested by the previous experts,
• You can keep the sentences short and crisp, instead of linking them with conjunctions. Short sentences make more impact.
• Example: He walked over and he left.
• Change to: He walked over. He left
• You can use colon, semi-colon, n-dash, m-dash and periods.
• Example: The rat gnaws on old articles and it strengthens their jaws.
• Change to: : The rat gnaws on old articles; it strengthens their jaws.
• You can combine the simple sentences combined by and into a simple or complex sentence.
• Example: He must return the money and he will not be punished.
• Change to: He must return the money to escape punishment.
 In Place Of ‘And’
• You have many options, depending on the situation: also,
in addition, moreover, more importantly, however,
nevertheless, in fact, not to mention, other options
include, obviously, in some cases, surprisingly, etc.
 Other transition words
• Use other transition words, such as “in addition,”
“furthermore,” and “moreover” to begin sentences. Keep
in mind that this tends to make your writing sound formal.
• Find other ways of combining sentences. If you are
comparing two things, consider using “whereas” in place
of “and.” Example: Water quenches fire, whereas gasoline
feeds it.
• Use a semicolon to link two related clauses. Example:
Water quenches fire; gasoline feeds it.