Grouping of "or" and "along with"

Question

I was confronted with the following sentence

Pass either exam 480 or 483 along with exam 486.

and wonder, if the options for me are

480
483 and 486

or this:

480 and 486
483 and 486

Is this obvious to the native English reader? And if so, why? It is not obvious to some non-natives including myself.

Jewelz · Answer

Sometimes I try to just try to insert a variable to see if it helps: "Either A or B and C" Does that make it anymore clear? It's still ambiguous to me and if you happen to pass the first one and neither of the last 2, I'd argue it. Lol. I think she means 1st or 2nd exam as well as the 3rd exam.

Answered by Jewelz on August 26, 2020

Grouping of "or" and "along with"

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