Writing tips: Avoid and/or and slashes

Apart from being ugly, the and/or construction is used ambiguously. It makes your meaning unclear.

Good writers avoid unclear writing.

Writers reach for the term when they mean either and or or, but not both. In this case it is better 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 widely used as a catch-all, but is still controversial in some circles 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.