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"The lessons coming out of Baltimore, the lessons coming out of France's large cities, the lessons coming out of all our societies show that neighbourhoods matter, place matters, where you live matters." - Tharman Shanmugaratnam

The author has used the phrase "the lessons coming out of" three times. Which set of rules make the last two grammatically correct? Why is there not an "and" between "place matters" and "where you live matters"?

user348706
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  • Possible duplicate of list separated by commas with no "and" at the end. Lists should include 'and' before the last item in formal writing, but omitting this is becoming more and more an accepted style choice in (I'd say often good) not-ultraformal writing. This enhances a 'running', flowing, smooth style, when pauses would detract. As mentioned at the duplicate thread, there are other options. // As the usage is (in the main) ... – Edwin Ashworth Jun 28 '19 at 10:58
  • quite recent, whether or not to include a comma after the last list item is, like the choice to drop the 'and', a judgement call for the author. They may choose different approaches in different situations. And, as hinted at, they have other punctuation (for instance, ellipses) available. // If this is the original rather than a translation, it may be worth considering that Tharman Shanmugaratnam was educated at Harvard and Cambridge, and is an Honorary Fellow of LSE. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 28 '19 at 11:08
  • I agree with the above but I also think it maks a huge difference if you repeat e.g. the lessons. If that appeared only once I think you'd be much more likely to find and. On top of that, the semicolon is not much used theae days, and although some people use a dash instead, many just use a comma. The comma sometimes serves as an ellipsis too, and with so many roles its usage is bound to be complicated. The sentence above has the form if you look at x... if you look at Y... wherever you look, you see Z. All of which to say I am not sure it is a typical list. –  Jun 28 '19 at 12:29
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    There are many posts here referring to asyndeton. It's a common-enough rhetorical device, and because it's a rhetorical device it's more likely to feature deliberately in more formal writing than less formal, surely. – Andrew Leach Jun 29 '19 at 08:44
  • There is absolutely no rule that says you can't repeat information. By some lights, repetition could be considered better because there is less room for ambiguous interpretation. However, stylistically, it also sometimes sounds more awkward. In this case, I think the repetition has a good effect because it serves to emphasize the idea being expressed (although I would put a comma after societies). – Jason Bassford Jun 29 '19 at 10:35

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