to introduce more than two objects, Webster's Dictionary of English
Usage concedes that "Our recent evidence for this construction is
sparse." We can see why. Let's return a final time to our example
sentence:
"And according to both Kelly, the BSA, and recent news reports, the
money you spend goes to support other, more violent crimes."
Has the author gained anything by inserting "both" to serve as
"a
function word to indicate and stress the inclusion of each of two or
more things specified by coordinated words, phrases, or clauses"?
Delete the "both" and see what you think. We consider the advantage
of
including it minimal at best; and recognizing that it will surely give
pause to the many readers unfamiliar with the special characteristics
of "both" used as a conjunction, we view it as a liability to the
sentence's coherence. If the author fears that the string of included
sources becomes difficult to parse correctly without advance warning
that more than one source is about to be cited, we recommend
restructuring the sentence to obviate any need for "both":
"Kelly, the BSA, and recent news reports all agree that the money you
spend goes to support other, more violent crimes."