Coordination in Technical Lists and Parallel Structures
5 exercises — using and/or/but/as well as/both…and/either…or/not only…but also correctly in technical bullet points, API descriptions, and feature requirement lists.
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
A feature list in a README reads: "The library supports reading, to write, and the deletion of records." What is the grammatical problem?
Option B is correct.Parallel structure requires all items in a coordinated list to have the same grammatical form. The correct form should be: "The library supports reading, writing, and deleting records" (all gerunds) or "The library supports record reads, writes, and deletions" (all nouns). Mixing "reading" (gerund), "to write" (infinitive), and "the deletion of" (nominalised noun phrase) breaks parallelism. The serial comma (option D) is a style choice, not the primary problem here.
2 / 5
An API description states: "The endpoint accepts _____ JSON _____ XML payloads." Which correlative conjunction pair correctly expresses that both formats are accepted?
Option C is correct."Both…and" is the correlative conjunction for expressing that two things are both true or both included: "accepts both JSON and XML payloads." "Either…or" (option A) expresses choice between two alternatives — implying the client must choose one. "Neither…nor" (option B) is a negative conjunction — it excludes both. "Not only…but also" (option D) is grammatically valid but adds unnecessary emphasis — it implies XML is a surprising addition, which is not the intended meaning in a neutral feature list.
3 / 5
A pull request description reads: "This PR refactors the authentication module, updates the test suite, _____ fixes a race condition in the token refresh logic." Which conjunction is correct, and should a serial comma be used?
Option C is correct. In a three-item list ("refactors…, updates…, and fixes…"), the serial (Oxford) comma before the final "and" prevents ambiguity and is recommended in technical writing style guides (including Google, Microsoft, and Apple documentation guidelines). Without it, the last two items can appear to be a single action. "And" is the correct conjunction for listing changes in a PR. "As well as" (option D) is grammatically correct but stylistically unusual in PR descriptions, which conventionally use "and".
4 / 5
A technical spec states: "The system must log the event, must notify the on-call engineer, _____ must update the incident tracker." Which word makes this sentence most idiomatic in formal technical requirements?
Option C is correct. In a parallel list of requirements using "must + verb", the correct continuation is simply "and must [verb]". All items share the same modal-verb structure: "must log…, must notify…, and must update…". "And also must" (option A) is redundant. "As well as must" and "in addition to must" (options B and D) are ungrammatical — "as well as" and "in addition to" are prepositions and must be followed by a noun or gerund, not a modal verb. Maintain strict parallelism in requirement lists.
5 / 5
A system design document states: "_____ the API gateway _____ the service mesh handles request routing in this architecture." Which correlative conjunction expresses mutual exclusivity — one or the other, but not both?
Option B is correct."Either…or" expresses mutual exclusivity — exactly one of the two options applies: "Either the API gateway or the service mesh handles request routing." This is the correct choice when the architecture implements one pattern or the other depending on deployment configuration. "Both…and" (option A) means both apply simultaneously. "Not only…but also" (option C) means both apply, with emphasis. "Neither…nor" (option D) means neither applies — which would indicate a design gap.