The coordinators and and or are sometimes used when no real coordination is taking place:
I’ll be there when I’m good and ready.
Here, and does not coordinate good with ready. If it did, the sentence
would mean something like:
I’ll be there when I’m good and when I’m ready.
Instead, it means
I’ll be there when I’m fully/completely ready.
This use of and without any coordinating role is called pseudocoordination. Further examples of pseudo-coordination include:
Please try and come early.
(= Please try to come early.)
Any more complaints and I’m leaving.
(= If I receive any more complaints, I will leave.)
Do that again and I’ll report you.
(= If you do that again, I will report you.)
When it acts as a coordinator, the conjunction or links items which are to be considered as alternatives:
Would you like tea or coffee?
You can fly business class or economy class.
In the following example, however, the items linked by or are not alternatives:
The software is supplied with several useful ‘wizards’ or templates.
Here, templates is used to clarify the specialist computer term wizards, so this is a type of apposition
I’ll be there when I’m good and ready.
Here, and does not coordinate good with ready. If it did, the sentence
would mean something like:
I’ll be there when I’m good and when I’m ready.
Instead, it means
I’ll be there when I’m fully/completely ready.
This use of and without any coordinating role is called pseudocoordination. Further examples of pseudo-coordination include:
Please try and come early.
(= Please try to come early.)
Any more complaints and I’m leaving.
(= If I receive any more complaints, I will leave.)
Do that again and I’ll report you.
(= If you do that again, I will report you.)
When it acts as a coordinator, the conjunction or links items which are to be considered as alternatives:
Would you like tea or coffee?
You can fly business class or economy class.
In the following example, however, the items linked by or are not alternatives:
The software is supplied with several useful ‘wizards’ or templates.
Here, templates is used to clarify the specialist computer term wizards, so this is a type of apposition