Is it ever acceptable to use the word "and" more than once in a sentence? What are the rules for it? I was always taught that it wasn't, but I'm not sure how to phrase certain sentences without it. An example I just wrote from my story: "Mr. Thimbleby gave her a mop and a wash cloth and took her in the direction of the laboratory." Do I really need to separate that into two sentences? I just don't want to use "and" incorrectly.
Mr. Thimbleby gave her a mop and a wash cloth, and took her in the direction of the laboratory. Your sentence is legit, but take a look at it with the comma I added. Your way was technically correct, but with the comma it seems a little easier to read. What you don't want to do is this: Mr Thimbley gave her a mop and a wash cloth and a broom and a dust pan and a bucket.
It's certainly not grammatically incorrect to use multiple ands; it's a style issue. I'd say that each additional "and" needs to have just a little more justification--if you'd gotten to three, you'd need a really good reason for not breaking up the sentence. But your two-and sentence, with guamyankee's comma, looks just fine to me. ChickenFreak
Maybe it's UK thing, but don't think comma is either necessary or correct after wash cloth. Why not change it to: Mr. Thimbley gave her a mop and wash cloth before taking her in the direction of the laboratory.
it's totally a style issue... a list can certainly have multiple 'and's if there's a good reason to repeat them... such as for emphasis... or in dialog, if that's how the character would speak...
