“And” does none of these things. It is a connection made of nothing but connection; two things, three things, ten things coexist in a sentence, but grammar is mute on the subject of what, other than that single word, might bind them. This no-strings-attached combinatory power makes it a particularly easy conjunction to master: of all the ways we can put the world together, “and” is the most fundamental, the first and simplest knot we learn to tie. Young children, who may not grasp the specific relationships implied by other conjunctions, are fluent and profligate users of this one. From the
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