Avoid and/or and slashes

Apart from being ugly the and/or construction is often used ambiguously. It can make your meaning unclear. This is something good writers strive to avoid.

The term is often used when the writer or speaker, means either and or or, but not both. In this case it is preferable to just use the one you mean.

If you do mean “either and or or or both” then it’s best to spell out your meaning in full, ie:

You can eat an apple or an orange, or both.

And/or crept into common use from the legal world, where it is often used as a catch-all, but is still often considered controversial as the meaning is imprecise.

The same applies to using a slash between words. It means or, so don’t be lazy and leave your readers to guess your meaning. Be precise, use the word. It’s only two letters.

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