8.159 Linking noun groups

When you are talking about two people or things, you can use a coordinating conjunction to link two noun groups.

8.160

In simple statements about two people or things, you use 'and'.

• There were men and women working in the fields.
• I'll give you a nice cup of tea and a ginger biscuit.
• ...a friendship between a boy and a girl.

Instead of 'and not', you use 'not' with a comma in front of it.

• Each finger ends with a sharp claw, not a flat blunt nail.

If both people or things are the object of the verb in a negative sentence, you use 'or'.

• We didn't play cricket or football.