Errors with correlative conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are two-part adjectives. Errors usually involve an incorrect combination of their parts, such as neither... or or not only... and. Anytime you see a sentence containing correlative conjunctions you should be on the lookout for this type of error. This is an easy error to spot!

Another error is the use of both... and to join three elements. E.g.: The air that surrounds the plant is both odorless, colorless, and invisible. Both…and can be used to join two elements. In this sentence the word both must be eliminated.

Identify errors involving conjunctions. If the underlined form is correct, mark the sentence C. If the underlined form is incorrect, mark the sentence I, and write a correction for the underlined form at the end of the sentence.

• Model airplanes can be guided both by control wires or by radio transmitters.

• Information in a computer can be lost because it is no longer stored or because it is stored but cannot be retrieved.

• Martin Luther was not only a religious leader and also a social reformer.

• Although fish can hear, they have neither external ears or eardrums.

• In all animals, whether simple and complex, enzymes aid in the digestion of food.

• The two most common methods florists use to tint flowers are the spray method or the absorption method.

• Beekeepers can sell either the honey and the beeswax that their bees produce.

• The alloys brass and bronze both contain copper as their principle metals.

• The human brain is often compared to a computer, and such an analogy can be misleading.

• Rust both corrodes the surface of metal but also weakens its structure.