Semicolons -- how, when, and where

[The Judge]

I'm a bit confused as to what is meant by "Bob, W because of X , Y because of Z".

If it's something like "Bob, is he W because of X genes, or Y because of Z genes?" I think your best way of showing it (other than in full like that) is "Bob -- W because of X or Y because of Z?" ie you can avoid repeating "Bob" and that's quite usual, but use a dash to hive off the clause and avoid needing a verb (a colon would do the same job but I'm a dashing person...) and no semi-colon at all, since it's not needed, and anyway should not be there with the "or". (Strictly, semi-colons shouldn't have link words like "or" and "and" but in a list an "and" often helps to show that's the last thing, so ignore the rule if it reads better. But here, with the "or" the semi-colon simply gets in the way, and it doesn't work on its own without the "or".)

 

[Phyrebrat]

I tend to hear the words while I'm engrossed in a story, and punctuation is the rests that build the rhythm. Thus a full stop (period) is about a minim, A paragraph change is about a breve (though it can be longer), and a chapter change is at least a bar. A comma is about a quaver, while a semicolon is a dotted quaver. That leaves a colon at about a crotchet, and quotation marks - possibly only a semiquaver?

But I am a pedant - and I can get totally lose my suspension of disbelieve in full reading stampede - Um, anyone upset by mixed metaphors? - by a single comma splice in place of a semicolon. Oh, you can chop the sentences into grammatical sausage slices, if you can take the machine-gun rhythm, but a misplced apostrophe can get me foaming at the mouth.

And rhythm can effect the pace, as well as the mood. Not that I've entirely mastered the structural details, but I'm a reader, not really a writer.

I agree 100%. I’m not sure many people hear or perhaps think about the rhythm of their prose. I’ve seen some beautiful sentences decimated by advice to change to the critter’s preference, who’s missed the ‘patter.’

One exception I’d have to be honest about, though, is alliteration (in prose). More than two words is unnecessary in all but the most special of circumstances. Alliteration draws attention to itself.

pH

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I’m coming to party late, as usual, but perhaps it’s for the best. Things got a little heated up there!

I’m not a fully confident semicolon user, but I’d rather be hung for a dodgy semicolon than for a comma splice! They annoy me more than almost anything else.

Like @Phyrebrat, alliteration irritates me, as does the use of amount when the writer means number (did he weigh the people at the concert? Seriously?).

As a reader, semicolons rarely trip me up. I only wish I was a little more confident using them as a writer. And yes, as someone above suggested, I cut my teeth on the classics, where semicolons thrive.

It would be a great shame to lose a valuable tool from our toolkit because modern writers are too afraid to use them.