What is the best way to express relations between one party on one side, and two on the other
I recently read the following sentence:
He helped normalize relations between the US and Vietnam and Laos.
Assuming Vietnam and Laos already had normal relations with each other (which they might not have, but that's another question), how would one write this sentence less awkwardly, or is this the best way to write it briefly? I'd like to have the implication that the US had a similar relationship with Vietnam and Laos. If the numbers on either side were different, I would have no problems. Should a comma go after "US"?
Apologies if this has been asked, but I don't know how to phrase it searchably.
Try reading it aloud and seeing whether any pause in your voice can disambiguate this. This isn’t going to be a place where careful commas are likely to help you.
You have to somehow separate the things that are not meant to cluster together from those that are. For example:
- He helped normalize US relations with Vietnam and Laos.
- He helped normalize bilateral relations between the US on one side and Vietnam and Laos on the other.
Those are now clear whether written or spoken.
I am not sure exactly what the original sentence is trying to say though that may be clear in context. So suggesting a re-write is difficult. It is possible that the original writer was sensitive to the distinction between the words "between" and "among," but many writers ignore that distinction.
If the meaning is about bilateral relations between the US and Vietnam and bilateral relations between the US and Laos, then the following is concise and clear without being stilted or awkward.
"He helped the US normalize its relations both with Vietnam and with Laos."