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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