John owns a fruit shop; his bananas are big. (instead of:John owns a fruit shop and his bananas are big.) Spuriousmonkey writes on Sciforums; he sometimes has tantrums. (instead of: Spuriousmonkey writes on Sciforums and he sometimes has tantrums.) A semi colon is used to separate 2 complete and related sentences; the second sentence is usually a comment on the first and is used instead of, and, but, or etc..
so its used instead of a connective? Shorty asked for the remote and Nietzche handed it to her. OR Shorty asked for the remote; Nietzche handed it to her.
http://www.accuratewriting.com/w1-8.shtml So, with the exception of the above, a colon and semicolon can be used more or less interchangeably.
"Dave had a Partial Colectomy; he now has a semi-colon." Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! (was that proper use?)
My gay friend Scott likes to hang out in sentences: you can always find him next to the colon! :roflmao:
Not really - the colon has a feel of leaning to it. What comes after a colon is not equivalent in status to what comes before it, but rather dependent for context and meaning. A semicolon separates two basically equal-status notions. Either one would make some kind of sense, and belong there, without the other. They illuminate each other, rather than one the other. Making sense, am I? At any rate, if you exchange them the feel and meaning changes. Vonnegut says the only function of a semicolon is to prove the author went to college. But he used them, occasionally Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Purchase Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style". Once you've read this, you'll never wonder about syntax or punctuation again.
The old version, from a used book store. There's a new one out, in which someone has "improved" White's examples and prose. They deserve none of your money.
I'm never sure. I know it's sort of halfway between a comma and a fullstop, so I use it when it feels right to do so without having any set rule about it. I really should look it up;(?) as should you. It's good for lists: "John went to the supermarket and bought some milk; 4 apples; a loaf of bread; a bag of sugar; some nipple clamps and an enormous vibrator". But, that function aside, I remain a bit perplexed by it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semicolon In English, the semicolon has two main purposes: It binds two sentences more closely than they would be if separated by a full stop/period. It often replaces a conjunction such as and or but. Writers might consider this appropriate where they are trying to indicate a close relationship between two sentences, or a 'run-on' in meaning from one to the next; they might not want the connection to be broken by the abrupt use of a full stop. It is used as a stronger division than a comma, to make meaning clear in a sentence where commas are being used for other purposes. A common example of this use is to separate the items of a list when some of the items themselves contain commas. There are several cases where semicolons may be used: Use a semicolon between closely related independent clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction: "I went to the pool; I was informed that it was closed." Use a semicolon between independent clauses linked with a transitional phrase or conjunctive adverb: "I like to eat cows; however, they don't like to be eaten by me." Use a semicolon between items in a series containing internal punctuation: "There are several Waffle Houses in Atlanta, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Gainesville, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama." A semicolon can be used to separate independent clauses that are joined by coordinating conjunctions when the clauses have internal commas that might lead to misreading: "After the game, I won a red beanie baby, four edible ingots, and a certificate of excellence; but when the storm came, I lost it all in a torrent of sleet, snow, and profanity." Semicolons are always followed by a lower case letter, unless that letter begins a proper noun. So there we; have it.
It is often used in sentences where it's not easy to think of an appropriate conjunction. Most of the posts on SciForums are very articulate; it's my favorite BBS website. I would hesitate to use "therefore" in that sentence because this might not be the only reason it's my favorite website. This way the implication is clearer that there may other reasons. Not at all. The clauses on both sides of a semicolon are coordinate, meaning neither one dominates. The clause following a colon is subordinate. In a particular case it may be possible to write the sentence either way, but it will have two somewhat different meanings. Most of the posts on SciForums are very articulate: it's my favorite website. This makes it clear that there is only one reason.
Personally I prefer the dash--it's the more modern version of the semi-colon. EDIT: This is technically referred to as the M-dash or em-dash (not to be confused with the N-dash).
As an editor, I only allow dashes that are paired, which makes them more akin to parentheses. One reason dashes are not more widely used is that they are not available in all computer fonts. The one used by SciForums is a good example. They just appear as two hyphens, like on an old-fashioned typewriter. Word-processing software generally converts a double hyphen to a dash, but most e-mail and BBS software does not incorporate state-of-the-art word processing. BTW, printers refer to en-dashes and em-dashes because of the space they take up on the page. The rest of us can just call them hyphens and dashes, respectively, without risking confusion. As in your example, a dash should be flush with both words, with no intervening spaces. BTW(2), there's no hyphen in the word semicolon, at least not in modern American dictionaries.
I like the paired dash too, but the stand-alone dash is fine as a substitute for a semi colon & I've certainly seen in plenty of published works. (BTW, what do you edit? I've worked as an editor before although it wouldn't show here since I don't take the time to edit myself.) I've got them programed in on Microsoft Word as alt-m and alt-n but they don't make it easy. Since I can't type it here it is hard to show but the en-dash is bigger than a hyphen and gets used somewhat differently, so I would avoid calling it a hyphen. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#En_dash) I tend to over-hyphenate.
