I read an article in the Times this morning about the semi-colon; that wily but misunderstood bit punctuation that I love so dearly.
Americans, in particular, prefer shorter sentences without, as style books advise, that distinct division between statements that are closely related but require a separation more prolonged than a conjunction and more emphatic than a comma.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/nyregion/18semicolon.html?em&ex=1203570000&en=dc3cd0cc8983eb99&ei=5087%0A
I don't know why I like semi-colons so much, but I do! They seem like a license to splurge in a run-on sentence while providing style and panache. I say, "Hooray for the Semi-Colon!"
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4 comments:
jstrange will correct me if i'm wrong, but brent, i believe you actually misused the semicolon in your first sentence. the two clauses linked by a semicolon are supposed to be independent. you really need a comma here. :) also, i don't think it's normally hyphenated. nevertheless, i'm glad you love the semicolon; it's my favorite (and probably over-used) piece of punctuation too.
Earle Labor always called them the semi-comma
Mmm, anonymous is right--both about semicolons and jstrange's willingness to correct. Yes, semicolons must connect independent clauses, except in the cases of complex comma series. Now, you'll find exceptions in good writing, but we all know those people mean well but aren't right, right? :)
As for favorite pieces of punctuation, I claim the dash, which is what I'd have used in Brent's first sentence instead of a semicolon. Now your dash is a multipurpose kind of punctuation mark that gives you just the right kind of pause and separation while maintaining that connectivity you want. But then again, I've been known to string along phrase after phrase after phrase, all with dashes between. I can get lost in the grammar there.
So let's all raise a glass to the semicolon, and to the New York Times for starting the toast! To style, to panache . . . to the semicolon!
raising too many a glass to the semi-colon has led not a few naive librarians to returning books late and stamping the wrong book cards
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