Avoid using BOTH and AS WELL AS in the same sentence.

Birmingham, Alabama's new mayor William Bell has a full plate of issues. One of those is balancing the budget, and he is making great efforts in that direction.



As I have said a number of times in this blog, I do not expect public figures to get the grammar exactly right when they are speaking out loud. However, the following quote from a comment by Mayor Bell last week illustrates a good point about parallel structure. I would hope that, if he were writing this sentence, he would word it in more parallel form:



"I'm asking for a full review by BOTH our legal department AS WELL AS our public works department."



BOTH and AS WELL AS should not be used together. Mayor Bell should have said one of the following:



I'm asking for a full review by BOTH our legal department AND our public works department.



OR



I'm asking for a full review by our public works department AS WELL AS our legal department. (NOTE: I switched the order to get the emphasis on the correct department.)



That said, I wish Mayor Bell progress AS WELL AS ultimate success in solving the many problems of the city.



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