Monday, July 9, 2012

grammar - Sentences with coordinating conjunctions between two nouns omitted

There are sentences like this in many literature books:




He held a gun, a sword, a bible.



It is not a sentence, just a phrase.





They do not have word "and" and "but". I think those should be like these:




He held a gun, a sword, (and) a bible.



It is not a sentence, (but) just a phrase.





However, since those sentences give clarity and are better-sounding, I never thought they are grammatically incorrect. But I faced some challenging cases as I was trying to write those sentences, such as a sentence with omission of "and" and only two nouns.




He held a gun, a sword.




This sentence sounds so off to my ear that it is almost dreadful. But when I wrote a sentence with "but" omitted and only two nouns, it seemed fine to me.




It is not a sentence, just a phrase.





So, what is the rule that enables me to delete those coordinating conjunctions between two nouns, and how can I use correctly? Also, is it a formal way of writing?

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