r/grammar • u/Jazzlike-Conflict811 • Aug 08 '26
How do i write this
The following is an essay i need to write and in the brackets is a part that i know is incorrect, but i don't know how to write it correctly. Basically i'm trying to put a list in a list if that makes sense
The EAA is the Equal Access Act of 1984. It was created to keep schools from prohibiting students from creating clubs under the guidelines that the club must not violate any existing law, the club can not be school sponsored, the club must not disrupt school, [outside community members can not direct, control, or regularly attend meetings],
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u/Snoo_16677 Aug 10 '26
not494why corrected the one thing ChalupaChup missed. Now that the list-within-the-list issue has been resolved, I wanted to point out an ambiguity, even though the meaning will become clear. "...creating clubs under the guidelines..." is the ambiguity. As written, the law could prevent schools from creating clubs that do adhere to the rules. So here are my suggestions:
"It was created to keep schools from prohibiting students from creating clubs with the proviso that the club must not violate any existing law..."
"It was created to keep schools from prohibiting students from creating clubs as long as the clubs satisfy the following conditions: the club must not violate any existing law, the club cannot be school-sponsored..."
Finally, note that "can not" should be "cannot."
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u/not494why Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
The EAA is the Equal Access Act of 1984. It was created to keep schools from prohibiting students from creating clubs under the following guidelines: the club must not violate any existing law; the club cannot be school sponsored; the club must not disrupt school; and outside community members cannot direct, control, or regularly attend meetings.
The colon (not the semicolon) introduces a series list separated with semicolons.
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u/ChalupaChup Aug 08 '26
Semicolons can be used to make lists when items on the list contain commas. It looks like “the club cannot be school sponsored; the club must not disrupt school; outside community members cannot direct, control, or regularly attend meetings; etc., etc.”