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I have the following sentence structure and I am wondering about the best way to phrase it:

"Along with A, B, C and D have been shown to influence the production of E."

What I am trying to convey here is that while it is well understood that "A" influences the production of "E", the reader should also be aware that "B, C and D" also influence the production of "E". Of course I could write it out in this fashion but this is much more wordy. As such, I am wondering if there is a structure or set of punctuation to make this meaning clear in relatively few words.

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  • I'm pretty sure semicolon can be used in this regard. It can be used in linking two independent clauses which are closely related in meaning. Someone can elaborate if it's correct. "Although A influences the production of E; B, C and D have shown the same property."
    – dorijan5484
    Commented Aug 19, 2020 at 14:35
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    @dorijan5484 This is a really good idea, but I don't believe your suggestion is a proper use of semicolons. Typically a semicolon doesn't come after a dependent clause - it separates independent clauses. "Although A influences the production of E" is a dependent clause, not an independent one.
    – Sciborg
    Commented Aug 19, 2020 at 16:08
  • @Sciborg Thanks for clearing it up. I observed the context of the first sentence without although in the picture and added it later in an example sentence.
    – dorijan5484
    Commented Aug 20, 2020 at 6:38

2 Answers 2

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The simplest way to reconstruct this for clarity, without changing any of the words, is to move the location of the dependent clause:

B, C and D, along with A, have been shown to influence the production of E.

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  • I think this is both clearer and conveys the idea that: yes A influences the production of E. But so do also B, C and D.
    – Duncan Drake
    Commented Aug 20, 2020 at 10:28
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The way your sentence is currently worded isn't wrong, but it may cause some grammatical confusion.

You could read it as you intended:

"Along with A, B, C and D have been shown to influence the production of E."

Or you could read it as:

"Along with A, B, C and D have been shown to influence the production of E."

Which is somewhat grammatically confusing, and the reader will have to read it again to understand that "along with A" belongs in its own separate thought. Since the letters are placed so close together, this incorrect reading will probably be the way most people first read it, and it will probably cause unwanted bewilderment about what you were trying to say.

So first we should clarify what you mean and place the letters far apart. Maybe something along the lines of:

"Although A has been shown to influence the production of E, so have B, C and D."

But since you've asked for conciseness, we can probably shave some words here and make it much simpler:

"A influences E's production, but so do B, C, and D."

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    Or just, "A, along with B, C, and D, has been shown to influence the production of E."
    – John Doe
    Commented Aug 19, 2020 at 16:56
  • @JohnDoe Also a good option :)
    – Sciborg
    Commented Aug 19, 2020 at 16:57

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