lost but found Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 Need some help with the interpretation of a semicolon. The question is in reguards to the semicolon following (i). Should the semicolon be interpreted as "and"? Does this particular section require all three requirements to be valid? The following FAR reference reads 5.202(13) (13) The proposed contract action-- (i) Is for an amount not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold; (ii) Will be made through a means that provides access to the notice of proposed contract action through the GPE; and (iii) Permits the public to respond to the solicitation electronically; or (14) The proposed contract action is made under conditions described in 6.302-3 with respect to the services of an expert to support the Federal Government in any current or anticipated litigation or dispute. Thanks for any help on this one. We can't seem to decide. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ji20874 Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 The semicolon is merely a series separator. But here, all three are required. Your correct citation is FAR 5.202( a )( 13 ). You must not omit the ( a ). All three must apply for ( 13 ) to apply. That's what the "and" means at the end of 5.202( a )( 13 )( ii ). ( i ), ( ii ), and ( iii ) must apply for ( 13 ) to apply. The "or" at the end of 5.202( a )( 13 )( iii ) applies to the ( 1 ) through (14 ) -- any one ( 1 ) through (14 ) must apply in order for ( a ) to apply. I hope this is helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lost but found Posted January 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 Very helpful. Sorry for missing the (a). I did not scroll up far enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoJeff Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Don, perhaps you can include a section on how to interpret semicolons in your proposed reference guide??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retreadfed Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 It is not the semi-colon that is significant here, but the use of the word "or" between (13) and (14). "And" is a conjunctive word. Usually when it appears in a list, it means that all items in the list must be present. Thus, all three elements in (13) must be present for (13) to apply. On the other hand, "or" is a disjunctive work. That means when it appears in a list, any of the alternatives apply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
napolik Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 Years - no decades - ago, Sister Mary Knuckles would say something like this: The linking words and and or show whether paragraphs are cumulative or alternative. While, sadly, she has gone - along with much of my memory, I believe she stated a solid and enduring rule of punctuation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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