Slashed word pairs

Word pairs that are joined with a slash "/"

such as and/or, he/she, body/mind, perceptual/conceptual

are being found more and more in formal writing. However, their use is unskillful and often confusing; style books recommend avoiding them.

This manner of writing stems from its use in British maritime legal writing: And/or was used only in British maritime law until the mid-19th century, and its current misuse creates awkward and often ambiguous constructions.

Joining word pairs with a slash “/” can confuse your readers; it is clumsy writing that no one can call elegant, creating an effect like a bump in the road for the reader.

Readers will understand you if you write and or or instead of and/or. Readers have done well for a long time without using such ambiguous and heavy pairings of words or ideas.

• • Does and/or mean or or versus or and or even something else? If you mean versus, you would do better to write versus rather than and/or.

  • Does perceptual/conceptual mean perceptual andconceptual or does it mean perceptual versusconceptual? Either meaning can be read from such wording.

By using precise and careful wording, good writers easily avoid such ungainly and often imprecise forms as he/she, mind/body, subjective/objective, perceptual/conceptual and so forth.