Hugh Pinnock writes that whenever many disjunctives, such as either/or and neither/nor, are located at the beginning of successive phrases, sentences, or series of words is called a paradiastole. Paradiastole is a form which characterizes ancient Hebrew writing. Pinnock cites H. Clay Gorton, who finds that the conjunction "or" seems to have four applications, each of which is used extensively in the Book of Mormon. These four are as follows:
1. To identify opposites: "they are free to choose liberty and eternal life . . . or to choose captivity and death" (2 Nephi 2:27).
2. To identify equivalents: "Favored above every other nation, kindred, tongue, or people" (Alma 9:20). This is the most frequent application in the Book of Mormon.
3. To restate: "I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision" (1 Nephi 8:2).
4. To aid in correcting a statement: "thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried their weapons of war, for peace" (Alma 24:19). In this form, the author makes a statement and then restates the idea using similar words because he is correcting or clarifying his original thoughts.
Joseph Smith, as he translated literally the Book of Mormon, included these Hebrew writing forms because the plates were inscribed by ancient prophets who utilized this style of communicating in their writings. He knew nothing explicit of these forms, however, in 3 Nephi 29:6 we find a clear example:
worketh by revelation,
or by prophecy,
or by gifts,
or by tongues,
or by healings,
or by the power of the Holy Ghost!
Additional examples of paradiastole include Exodus 22:10; Leviticus 13:48-49, 52-53, 56-59; 21:14, 18-20; Deuteronomy 5:21; 12:17; 18:10-11; 1 Samuel 30:19; Ecclesiastes 9:10-11; Jeremiah 16:5-7; Matthew 10:9-10; Romans 8:38-39; 1 Corinthians 3:22; 5:10-11; 6:9; Colossians 2:16; 2 Nephi 2:11, 13; Mosiah 2:12-13; Alma 1:30; 7:20; 23:1-2; 3 Nephi 17:7; 4 Nephi 1:16-17; Moroni 6:9. [Hugh W. Pinnock, Finding Biblical Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon, FARMS, 1999, pp. 27-30]