Semicolons -- how, when, and where

[DannMcGrew]

A Guide to Using Semicolons

You too can become a semicolon master!

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[CTRandall]

I like semicolons; I'm not sure why.

 

[DannMcGrew]

I like semicolons; I'm not sure why.

They add depth to a sentence; give it character.

 

[Astro Pen]

They are monsters that drag your attention from the story to the typography.
They have no place in prose where their presence jars like grammatical elastoplast.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I love them. No other punctuation does the same thing.

 

[Ursa major]

drag your attention from the story to the typography

So seeing a semicolon drags your attention to one or more of the typeface, point size, line length, leading, tracking and kerning, does it?

How strange.

 

[-K2-]

I don't notice them; I'm too busy looking at the pictures.

My somewhat recent discovery of punctuation beyond a comma, period, and spastic ellipses (yes............that), is helping my writing considerably. Perhaps I should say, it's helping me to express what I wanted to, without explaining each pause, telegraphic speech, interruption, and so on. Regarding semicolons, numerous short/blunt sentences--throughout--always put me off. I like a longer sentence here and there, but I have a tendency to make a sentence confusing or too list-like when I just use commas. My go-to, incorrectly applied ellipses, wasn't getting it any longer. Semicolons help me to say what I want, how I want to say it.

I just need to refine and practice my punctuation use, regardless of type. Otherwise, semicolons are just another error in the making.

K2

 

[Star-child]

So seeing a semicolon drags your attention to one or more of the typeface, point size, line length, leading, tracking and kerning, does it?

How strange.

No.it isn't strange to start paying attention to the printing when it is conspicuous. Writers often do that purposefully.

 

[Astro Pen]

So seeing a semicolon drags your attention to one or more of the typeface, point size, line length, leading, tracking and kerning, does it?

How strange.

What a ridiculous response. Pure provocative hyperbole.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

Very useful for a winking emoticon ;-)

 

[Venusian Broon]

I don't notice them; I'm too busy looking at the pictures.

This. ^^

Only bad writing drags your attention away from the story.

I've just counted the number of semi-colons a Chronners used in a manuscript that I critted recently. 577 in total and I didn't notice a single one of them consciously.

 

[Astro Pen]

Well that certainly kicked the thread back into life. Nothing quite like a dissenting view it seems
Chucking some peat on the fire.

The semicolon is pointless, and it’s ruining your writing

Stop using it now. Smash that key on your keyboard if you have to.

writingcooperative.com

A Word, Please: Writers who use semicolons aren't thinking about the reader

Here's a fun thing you can do with your writing: Take any two simple, clear sentences and use a semicolon to mush them into one.

www.latimes.com

 

[Ursa major]

No.it isn't strange to start paying attention to the printing when it is conspicuous. Writers often do that purposefully.

The presence or otherwise of a semicolon has nothing at all to do with typography (a name that encompasses the things I listed); the typography calling attention to itself is, rather obviously, to do with the typography calling attention to itself.

 

[Ursa major]

What a ridiculous response. Pure provocative hyperbole.

The hyperbole was blaming a semicolon for you looking at the typography (something that has nothing to do with the punctuation a writer uses, but instead the things I listed, i.e. the typeface, point size, line length, leading, tracking and kerning).

 

[Astro Pen]

Nobody likes a pedant.
Beside which I disagree. Clunky punctuation does draw ones attention to the typography.
Now Ursa, you could argue that scratches on a film do not draw attention to cinematography precisely but they do remind you that you are watching a movie, with the resultant impact on the illusion the shot structure was trying to create.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Well that certainly kicked the thread back into life. Nothing quite like a dissenting view it seems
Chucking some peat on the fire.

The semicolon is pointless, and it’s ruining your writing

Stop using it now. Smash that key on your keyboard if you have to.

writingcooperative.com

A Word, Please: Writers who use semicolons aren't thinking about the reader

Here's a fun thing you can do with your writing: Take any two simple, clear sentences and use a semicolon to mush them into one.

www.latimes.com

Nothing like a bit of stir to get the blood going

Anyway, I refer you to the useful saying, involving opinions and arseholes. Everyone has one and most of them stink. No doubt most of my opinions do too to everyone else, but they're mine godammit!

Being a tad more serious, in this case I just don't see semi-colons in use. Perhaps I see well crafted sentences all the time and therefore the various grammar 'oddities' just look natural to me. However I do disagree with the statement that 'Good writing mimics the way people speak.' Reading is not speaking.

 

[-K2-]

I must say, after reading: Check out this example from The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells:
“Presently, as I went on, still gaining velocity, the palpitation of night and day merged into one continuous greyness; the sky took on a wonderful deepness of blue, a splendid luminous color like that of early twilight; the jerking sun became a streak of fire, a brilliant arch, in space; the moon a fainter fluctuating band; and I could see nothing of the stars, save now and then a brighter circle flickering in the blue.”

The article's author then states, "See how far you get into that monstrosity before your brain checks out." Beforehand he states, "So why are you trying to suffocate them?"

Well, I don't know about the author of that article, but I tend to pause--and breathe--even at commas sometimes. Yes, periods could be substituted for the semicolons, and yes, I would never mimic that example...but I have no problem with it. It's an all-inclusive description of a singular thing, the sky. Each individual aspect separated by a semicolon, yet each detail of each aspect separated by commas.

The initial semicolon could be replaced by a period, perhaps even a colon(?). But, it works for me. I pause--breathe--and then continue at each semicolon when reading it aloud. In the end, however, instead of being left with numerous related though disconnected images, I'm left with a singular image of the sky in all its detail.

Okay, I'm convinced. I need to use more semicolons.

K2

 

[Venusian Broon]

I must say, after reading: Check out this example from The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells:
“Presently, as I went on, still gaining velocity, the palpitation of night and day merged into one continuous greyness; the sky took on a wonderful deepness of blue, a splendid luminous color like that of early twilight; the jerking sun became a streak of fire, a brilliant arch, in space; the moon a fainter fluctuating band; and I could see nothing of the stars, save now and then a brighter circle flickering in the blue.”

The article's author then states, "See how far you get into that monstrosity before your brain checks out." Beforehand he states, "So why are you trying to suffocate them?"

Well, I don't know about the author of that article, but I tend to pause--and breathe--even at commas sometimes. Yes, periods could be substituted for the semicolons, and yes, I would never mimic that example...but I have no problem with it. It's an all-inclusive description of a singular thing, the sky. Each individual aspect separated by a semicolon, yet each detail of each aspect separated by commas.

The initial semicolon could be replaced by a period, perhaps even a colon(?). But, it works for me. I pause--breathe--and then continue at each semicolon when reading it aloud. In the end, however, instead of being left with numerous related though disconnected images, I'm left with a singular image of the sky in all its detail.

Okay, I'm convinced. I need to use more semicolons.

K2

Yeah, I'm with you on this one, in terms of this sentence working as "an all-inclusive description of a thing". The semicolons in this sentence are clearly delineating each individual aspect of the time travellers observations to make a list.

 

[Star-child]

The presence or otherwise of a semicolon has nothing at all to do with typography (a name that encompasses the things I listed); the typography calling attention to itself is, rather obviously, to do with the typography calling attention to itself.

That's simply not true. Odd uses of the typography - like the use of an @mpersand in a word - quite definitely cause the reader to become aware of how the prose appears on the page rather than simply what the prose says. It is similar to a jump cut in film - where one would normally not be aware of the editing.

So I think @Astro Pen makes a good point that the less used semicolon can be conspicuous on the page in a possibly distracting way.

 

[Ursa major]

Clunky punctuation does draw ones attention to the typography.

A pedant writes....

1. The use of any punctuation mark may be clunky (in the view of the reader).
2. Some readers may find all uses of a particular punctuation mark to be clunky.
3. If, for whatever reason, the reader finds the use of a particular punctuation mark clunky, this will have drawn the reader's attention away from the story.
4. The new subject of the reader's attention is up to the reader.
5. A reader may not choose to redirect their attention to the same thing every time they are either pulled out of the story in general, or pulled out of the story by the use of a punctuation mark (or even the use of a specific punctuation mark).