semi colons

[hoarsewhisperer]

Dear pedants,

I have never posted in this section before, as I have little faith in my ability to use the Engliash language without botching up the punctuation. I need advice. My DH and I were having a discussion about the use of semi colons last night......I confess I never use them, because I don't understand how to.

Would someone care to enlighten me?

clueless

agree jura and carolsheeturner

also: after ; one doesn't have to stick to 'proper' grammar so useful for descriptive/literary writing

like myeye's "...; or was it the other way round?"

Surprised Paxo said that about recentness - 18th c. belles-lettres (Swift, Defoe, etc.) full of semi-colons. It's why I like them - they feel formal but atmospheric & a bit racy - as well as giving a lovely flow to the rhythm.

Virginia Woolf a very keen semi-colon-user too.

Just done some gutenberging:

• here is the beginning of Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year:

"It was about the beginning of September, 1664, that I, among the rest of my neighbours, heard in ordinary discourse that the plague was returned again in Holland; for it had been very violent there, and particularly at Amsterdam and Rotterdam, in the year 1663, whither, they say, it was brought, some said from Italy, others from the Levant, among some goods which were brought home by their Turkey fleet; others said it was brought from Candia; others from Cyprus. It mattered not from whence it came; but all agreed it was come into Holland again."

And here is our dear VW (from Jacob's Room):

"Slowly welling from the point of her gold nib, pale blue ink dissolved the full stop; for there her pen stuck; her eyes fixed, and tears slowly filled them. The entire bay quivered; the lighthouse wobbled; and she had the illusion that the mast of Mr. Connor's little yacht was bending like a wax candle in the sun. She winked quickly. Accidents were awful things. She winked again. The mast was straight; the waves were regular; the lighthouse was upright; but the blot had spread."

I use semicolons a lot; my old English teacher used to call me the semicolon champion.

Eeeeek, no, i don't like paired hyphens. Doesn't one do the job on its own?

I vote for SwedesTurnips1's semi-colon example.

Never seen paired hyphens before... what you want there is a nice N-dash, but you have to go looking deep into your computer for those. Having said that, I'm finding great rashes of N-dashes through lots of books at the moment, I suspect because of a fear of using semi-colons wrongly.

M-dashes for interruptions only, IMO. Unless you're American.

as far as colons, semis and hyphens go, this punctuation site seems pretty reasonable to me

I like Swedes example too, and would use it in real life.
It's interesting, though, that were I completing the first novel by a bat, I would probably choose:
I use semicolons a lot. My old English teacher used to call me the semicolon champion.

or rather, "I think it's interesting .. etc."

I use it to connect two clauses that are related and complete in themselves but would make an ugly single sentence.

Semi-colons are complex; without thorough training many would be lost.

Not a v good example but that's how use them.

And hyphens - you count em in - and you count em out again

I like the 'rashes of dashes'. Continuing on a medical note, do you suppose that Amis flushed out all those semicolons with a bit of semicolonic irrigation?

so, margo, I'm thinking perhaps I was wrong about the second clause not needing to stand alone grammatically?
is that the ugliest sentence ever written?

What on earth is a paired hyphen? It sounds like losing your virginity twice over; but in one sitting .

Oh I meant to say that's how I use them.

Wouldn't like to say that's the only way but that's my approach. Then I know I'm safe. I don't want to get all footloose and fancy free with my punctuation.

I doubt sitting would be an option swedes

Well I certainly mislaid my virginity in pursuit of perfection of the sitting trot.

snerk