[Katy Evans-Bush]

There are a couple of threads at the moment where the correct use of semi-colons is under discussion. Rather than allowing arguments to develop or trying to explain over and over what the correct usage might be in every given circumstance, I thought it might be nice to start a thread to explore the correct use of this tricksy little mark.

Here's a link to a good explanation:
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Semicolons.html

KEB

[Roger Slater]

Interesting topic; but not an issue that has ever troubled me; much.

[peter richards]

There are a number of aspects to the debate, or problem: capitalisation is one; it should perhaps be Capitalisation - but after the colon and not the semi-colon - the latter being closer to the em-dash.


Thanks for the link, I hasten to add - I need it.

[This message has been edited by peter richards (edited April 17, 2006).]

[Svein Olav Nyberg]

I love semicolons; I didn't know about their use in situations you would need two logical levels of comma, though. Very useful! I'll have to learn to use those two properly.

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--Svein Olav

[John Beaton]

The Reader's Digest won't accept submissions that rely too much on the semi-colon.

John

[Cyn Neely]

Katy
Thanks for the link. I found a few others but this one is probably the most comprehensive. This is the one I will use to point others to when they keep sticking semicolons in my work. Thanks so much.
Cyn

[Catherine Chandler]

They can also be used for a wink as in

[David Anthony]

You have to be ultra-careful when writing about grammar; who'd have thought they'd misspell 'millennia'?

[Carol Taylor]

Cyn, if people keep sticking semicolons into your work it's probably a good indication you are using comma splices instead of correct punctuation to break up run-on sentences. If you aren't sure what punctuation to use, keep it simple and avoid run-on constructions; assume that the reading public will know the difference.

Except in cases where a sentence is complex and has so many words or phrases set off by internal commas that a semicolon is needed for differentiation, think of a semicolon as a full stop between two related but independent clauses. A clause has a subject and a verb. If the construction doesn't still work when you substitute a period for the semicolon, the semicolon probably isn't the right tool for the job.

That doesn't mean just use a comma to be safe. Breaking up long rambles into shorter sentences generally makes for better writing. At the very least a writer must be in control of his own use of the language if he's going to communicate his meaning to others. The final product can be no better than the poet's ability to express himself.

Carol

[R. Nemo Hill]

All these years I have been laboring under the delusion that a semi-colon was just a part of the lower intestine.

I learn something new every day!

Nemo