Recently w’ve been giving homage to a tried-and-true guideline of more effective technical writing — recognizing the differences between spoken English and written English. A related but distinct guideline is to employ precision in one’s language. Writers must employ such precision with constructions involving the conjunctions or and nor in order to produce more effective technical writing.
Or always follows either, and nor always follows neither. Writing which uses neither/or or either/nor constructions show obvious amateurism and as such contribute to less effective technical writing. Most technical writers easily avoid such errors.
However, many technical writers accept a more common error associated with the conjunctions or and nor. They forget to establish a parallel structure. Where needed, parallel structures always contribute to more effective technical writing.
Consider the example sentence in the cropped graphic above. The writer has used neither/nor with an appropriate parallel structure. How can you tell? Just look at the elements in the neither/nor construction. The first element is between neither and nor.
Or always follows either, and nor always follows neither. Writing which uses neither/or or either/nor constructions show obvious amateurism and as such contribute to less effective technical writing. Most technical writers easily avoid such errors.
However, many technical writers accept a more common error associated with the conjunctions or and nor. They forget to establish a parallel structure. Where needed, parallel structures always contribute to more effective technical writing.
Consider the example sentence in the cropped graphic above. The writer has used neither/nor with an appropriate parallel structure. How can you tell? Just look at the elements in the neither/nor construction. The first element is between neither and nor.
the material selection
And the second element is between nor and the verb.
the welding procedure
Both of these elements are the same type of phrase (in this case, noun phrases), and as such the resulting structure is parallel. Had the sentence instead appeared as something like
Neither the material selection nor welding the joint with a TIG process accommodated the changed environment which precipitated the failure.
the structure would not be parallel. The first element remains unchanged, but the second element is now a verb phrase, which differs from a noun phrase. Even if one were to argue that welding the joint with a TIG process is a gerund phrase and hence being used a noun, the writer still has a noun being used as a noun for one element and a verb being used as a noun for the other. The structure still lacks complete parallelism and with it a measure of effectiveness.
To reintroduce parallelism, the writer could write the sentence to read
To reintroduce parallelism, the writer could write the sentence to read
Neither selecting the 316L stainless steel nor welding the join with a TIG process accommodated the changed environment which precipitated the failure.
This version is grammatically correct and parallel in structure. It’s also a bit wordy. Compare that sentence to the original version in the cropped graphic above. Clearly the more concise original is more effective.
Don’t forget to be parallel with either either/or or neither/nor. You’ll produce stronger technical writing that will more effectively communicate your message. And a more effective presentation will better represent you and your brands to your audience.
Don’t forget to be parallel with either either/or or neither/nor. You’ll produce stronger technical writing that will more effectively communicate your message. And a more effective presentation will better represent you and your brands to your audience.
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