Should I include “as a” for every item in a list of jobs, or just the first item?
I have a doubt: should I write:
- I worked as a teacher, as housekeeper manager, as a Rep, etc.
or
- I worked as a teacher, housekeeper manager, Rep, etc.
ellipsis parallelism lists
edited 10 hours ago
ColleenV♦
10.4k53259
asked 10 hours ago
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I have a doubt: should I write:
- I worked as a teacher, as housekeeper manager, as a Rep, etc.
or
- I worked as a teacher, housekeeper manager, Rep, etc.
ellipsis parallelism lists
edited 10 hours ago
ColleenV♦
10.4k53259
asked 10 hours ago
islaisla
361
New contributor
isla is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
Did you intentionally omit "a" before "housekeeper manager" in the first example?
– Jasper
10 hours ago
@Jasper: Good point. For bonus points, can you think of any context where a "deleted" term could "validly" be *re-introduced" in a subsequent element within such a list? Offhand, I can't.
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
4
@FumbleFingers: "JQ Adams served as a Senator, as President, and as a Representative." Sounds correct to me to drop the article in front of President, even in a list, but perhaps technically incorrect.
– Matthew W
9 hours ago
1
@MatthewW: I'm not sure "technically incorrect" means anything here. But your example sounds fine to me, so you get the bonus points (or at least, a comment upvote, which is the best I can offer! :)
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
add a comment |
I have a doubt: should I write:
- I worked as a teacher, as housekeeper manager, as a Rep, etc.
or
- I worked as a teacher, housekeeper manager, Rep, etc.
ellipsis parallelism lists
edited 10 hours ago
ColleenV♦
10.4k53259
asked 10 hours ago
islaisla
361
New contributor
isla is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I have a doubt: should I write:
- I worked as a teacher, as housekeeper manager, as a Rep, etc.
or
- I worked as a teacher, housekeeper manager, Rep, etc.
ellipsis parallelism lists
ellipsis parallelism lists
edited 10 hours ago
ColleenV♦
10.4k53259
asked 10 hours ago
islaisla
361
New contributor
isla is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 10 hours ago
ColleenV♦
10.4k53259
asked 10 hours ago
islaisla
361
New contributor
isla is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 10 hours ago
ColleenV♦
10.4k53259
edited 10 hours ago
ColleenV♦
10.4k53259
edited 10 hours ago
ColleenV♦
10.4k53259
10.4k53259
asked 10 hours ago
islaisla
361
New contributor
isla is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 10 hours ago
islaisla
361
asked 10 hours ago
islaisla
361
361
New contributor
isla is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
isla is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
isla is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
Did you intentionally omit "a" before "housekeeper manager" in the first example?
– Jasper
10 hours ago
@Jasper: Good point. For bonus points, can you think of any context where a "deleted" term could "validly" be *re-introduced" in a subsequent element within such a list? Offhand, I can't.
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
4
@FumbleFingers: "JQ Adams served as a Senator, as President, and as a Representative." Sounds correct to me to drop the article in front of President, even in a list, but perhaps technically incorrect.
– Matthew W
9 hours ago
1
@MatthewW: I'm not sure "technically incorrect" means anything here. But your example sounds fine to me, so you get the bonus points (or at least, a comment upvote, which is the best I can offer! :)
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
add a comment |
2
Did you intentionally omit "a" before "housekeeper manager" in the first example?
– Jasper
10 hours ago
@Jasper: Good point. For bonus points, can you think of any context where a "deleted" term could "validly" be *re-introduced" in a subsequent element within such a list? Offhand, I can't.
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
4
@FumbleFingers: "JQ Adams served as a Senator, as President, and as a Representative." Sounds correct to me to drop the article in front of President, even in a list, but perhaps technically incorrect.
– Matthew W
9 hours ago
1
@MatthewW: I'm not sure "technically incorrect" means anything here. But your example sounds fine to me, so you get the bonus points (or at least, a comment upvote, which is the best I can offer! :)
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
2
2
Did you intentionally omit "a" before "housekeeper manager" in the first example?
– Jasper
10 hours ago
Did you intentionally omit "a" before "housekeeper manager" in the first example?
– Jasper
10 hours ago
@Jasper: Good point. For bonus points, can you think of any context where a "deleted" term could "validly" be *re-introduced" in a subsequent element within such a list? Offhand, I can't.
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
@Jasper: Good point. For bonus points, can you think of any context where a "deleted" term could "validly" be *re-introduced" in a subsequent element within such a list? Offhand, I can't.
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
4
4
@FumbleFingers: "JQ Adams served as a Senator, as President, and as a Representative." Sounds correct to me to drop the article in front of President, even in a list, but perhaps technically incorrect.
– Matthew W
9 hours ago
@FumbleFingers: "JQ Adams served as a Senator, as President, and as a Representative." Sounds correct to me to drop the article in front of President, even in a list, but perhaps technically incorrect.
– Matthew W
9 hours ago
1
1
@MatthewW: I'm not sure "technically incorrect" means anything here. But your example sounds fine to me, so you get the bonus points (or at least, a comment upvote, which is the best I can offer! :)
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
@MatthewW: I'm not sure "technically incorrect" means anything here. But your example sounds fine to me, so you get the bonus points (or at least, a comment upvote, which is the best I can offer! :)
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
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Both versions are syntactically fine, but idiomatically native speakers would tend to "delete" all "highly predictable" repetitions of as a in such contexts (or at the very least, delete repeated as).
There's a slightly greater chance that the more verbose version would be understood as meaning I've had several different jobs - for example [blah blah], where the shorter version could be interpreted as My job involved covering several different roles - for example [blah blah]. But that might be because we always tend to look for a more "unusual" interpretation if someone uses less common phrasing, not because of anything inherent in the words themselves.
Per the comment to the question (OP's current text omits a from the second item in the list, in case that gets edited out later), I should point out that it's very unusual (some might say "invalid") to delete any repeated element from such a "list" and then re-introduce it in a subsequent element. You should probably assume you never want to do that.
edited 9 hours ago
Jasper
17.5k43366
answered 10 hours ago
FumbleFingersFumbleFingers
44.4k154119
add a comment |
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Both versions are syntactically fine, but idiomatically native speakers would tend to "delete" all "highly predictable" repetitions of as a in such contexts (or at the very least, delete repeated as).
There's a slightly greater chance that the more verbose version would be understood as meaning I've had several different jobs - for example [blah blah], where the shorter version could be interpreted as My job involved covering several different roles - for example [blah blah]. But that might be because we always tend to look for a more "unusual" interpretation if someone uses less common phrasing, not because of anything inherent in the words themselves.
Per the comment to the question (OP's current text omits a from the second item in the list, in case that gets edited out later), I should point out that it's very unusual (some might say "invalid") to delete any repeated element from such a "list" and then re-introduce it in a subsequent element. You should probably assume you never want to do that.
edited 9 hours ago
Jasper
17.5k43366
answered 10 hours ago
FumbleFingersFumbleFingers
44.4k154119
add a comment |
Both versions are syntactically fine, but idiomatically native speakers would tend to "delete" all "highly predictable" repetitions of as a in such contexts (or at the very least, delete repeated as).
There's a slightly greater chance that the more verbose version would be understood as meaning I've had several different jobs - for example [blah blah], where the shorter version could be interpreted as My job involved covering several different roles - for example [blah blah]. But that might be because we always tend to look for a more "unusual" interpretation if someone uses less common phrasing, not because of anything inherent in the words themselves.
Per the comment to the question (OP's current text omits a from the second item in the list, in case that gets edited out later), I should point out that it's very unusual (some might say "invalid") to delete any repeated element from such a "list" and then re-introduce it in a subsequent element. You should probably assume you never want to do that.
edited 9 hours ago
Jasper
17.5k43366
answered 10 hours ago
FumbleFingersFumbleFingers
44.4k154119
add a comment |
Both versions are syntactically fine, but idiomatically native speakers would tend to "delete" all "highly predictable" repetitions of as a in such contexts (or at the very least, delete repeated as).
There's a slightly greater chance that the more verbose version would be understood as meaning I've had several different jobs - for example [blah blah], where the shorter version could be interpreted as My job involved covering several different roles - for example [blah blah]. But that might be because we always tend to look for a more "unusual" interpretation if someone uses less common phrasing, not because of anything inherent in the words themselves.
Per the comment to the question (OP's current text omits a from the second item in the list, in case that gets edited out later), I should point out that it's very unusual (some might say "invalid") to delete any repeated element from such a "list" and then re-introduce it in a subsequent element. You should probably assume you never want to do that.
edited 9 hours ago
Jasper
17.5k43366
answered 10 hours ago
FumbleFingersFumbleFingers
44.4k154119
Both versions are syntactically fine, but idiomatically native speakers would tend to "delete" all "highly predictable" repetitions of as a in such contexts (or at the very least, delete repeated as).
There's a slightly greater chance that the more verbose version would be understood as meaning I've had several different jobs - for example [blah blah], where the shorter version could be interpreted as My job involved covering several different roles - for example [blah blah]. But that might be because we always tend to look for a more "unusual" interpretation if someone uses less common phrasing, not because of anything inherent in the words themselves.
Per the comment to the question (OP's current text omits a from the second item in the list, in case that gets edited out later), I should point out that it's very unusual (some might say "invalid") to delete any repeated element from such a "list" and then re-introduce it in a subsequent element. You should probably assume you never want to do that.
edited 9 hours ago
Jasper
17.5k43366
answered 10 hours ago
FumbleFingersFumbleFingers
44.4k154119
edited 9 hours ago
Jasper
17.5k43366
edited 9 hours ago
Jasper
17.5k43366
edited 9 hours ago
Jasper
17.5k43366
17.5k43366
answered 10 hours ago
FumbleFingersFumbleFingers
44.4k154119
answered 10 hours ago
FumbleFingersFumbleFingers
44.4k154119
answered 10 hours ago
FumbleFingersFumbleFingers
44.4k154119
44.4k154119
add a comment |
add a comment |
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2
Did you intentionally omit "a" before "housekeeper manager" in the first example?
– Jasper
10 hours ago
@Jasper: Good point. For bonus points, can you think of any context where a "deleted" term could "validly" be *re-introduced" in a subsequent element within such a list? Offhand, I can't.
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago
4
@FumbleFingers: "JQ Adams served as a Senator, as President, and as a Representative." Sounds correct to me to drop the article in front of President, even in a list, but perhaps technically incorrect.
– Matthew W
9 hours ago
1
@MatthewW: I'm not sure "technically incorrect" means anything here. But your example sounds fine to me, so you get the bonus points (or at least, a comment upvote, which is the best I can offer! :)
– FumbleFingers
9 hours ago