: When to introduce a list of two with the word "both" I cannot think of any sentence where the word "both" is not dead-weight. Can you help me understand when it is and is not appropriate

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"Both" can act as emphasis when one of the two is unexpected. In this usage, the unexpected one is placed second. For example, consider the difference between:

Tom and his manager thought the customer complaint was invalid.

and

Both Tom and his manager thought the customer complaint was invalid.

The first one tells you two people felt that way; the second, on the other hand, tells you that Tom's manager backed him up.

Sometimes words that are syntactically superfluous add semantic meaning. In the previous paragraph, "on the other hand" isn't strictly required, but it signals that I'm about to give a contrasting view. To signal a corroborating view, I might have used the form "X, and further, Y". Strictly speaking you only need to know X and Y, but the additional words supply nuance.

If it's only important to report the facts, go ahead and drop the extra words. If you're trying to signal something more, use them.

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