[General] How many successive of's can be be used in English?

[Larisa_rog]

Please tell me if it is acceptable to use so many of's in the English language:

Structured system of monitoring and control of engineering systems of buildings and facilities.

If not, then how can it be rephrased? By the way, this is the title of a paper.

Thanks

 

[5jj]

Structured system of monitoring and control of engineering systems of buildings and facilities.

I expect somebody will come up with an elegant re-phrasing, but it looks fine to me. Perhaps the last of could be replaced by in.

Of course, discussion of the question of the number of times one can use of in a sentence is a subject of concern to a lot of people. ;-)
There is no absolute limit to the number of ofs, but we try to avoid too many if possible. In your sentence they do not jar. My sentence, in red, is ugly; the whole thing should be recast: Many people are concerned about the number of times they can use of in a sentence.

 

[Larisa_rog]

Perhaps the last of could be replaced by in.

I'm afraid, the replacement of the last of by in may change the meaning of the phrase a little bit. What do you think about the following re-phrasing:

Structured system of monitoring and control of buildings and facilities engineering systems

 

[5jj]

I'm afraid, the replacement of the last of by in may change the meaning of the phrase a little bit.

That thought did cross my mind, but I decided that the change in meaning was not significant. However, you are probably right. Of is better.

Structured system of monitoring and control of buildings and facilities engineering systems

I prefer the original. It's clearer.