A plea on behalf of the semicolon.

[seaside]

I use them! I think they're great, though perhaps I overuse them. I try to avoid more than one every two or three pages.

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Originally Posted by seaside

I use them! I think they're great, though perhaps I overuse them. I try to avoid more than one every two or three pages.

Use them as often as they're grammatically correct; there's nothing wrong with it. Sure, they tend to stick out like sore thumbs because they ARE so underused, but I feel they shouldn't be.


Quick-stops usually are underused, I feel. There's not many times I can recall hyphens being used either, to be honest.

[TheDustyZebra]

Like Pyan, I am a great fan of ellipses and em-dashes, but I do consciously try to substitute semi-colons for some of those when it's appropriate; we must propagate the species.

[Dermit]

In my opinion, if you don't know exactly how to use semicolons, don't use semicolons. Full stops get the job done without all the "am i doing it wrong?" worry.

[Ripley!WatchOut!]

Originally Posted by Casspar

Writers everythere!

Please do not forget the humble semicolon, it is such a useful punctuation mark; I have read whole books where not one was to be found. If this continues we may well see it disappear from English literature from sheer neglect!

I am a big fan of the colon and semicolon; I often use many of them in a sentence: makes life a lot bloody easier.

[Joe the Timelord]

One thing I've noticed about myself after understanding how to use the semicolon is that I now tend to use it too often. I mean I get to the point where Rudyard Kipling would be mildly annoyed.
But that's what drafting's for, I suppose; half the semicolons I throw in get thrown back out in the end.

[Warren_Paul]

I do use semicolons, maybe sometimes more than I probably should, although half the time it is because Word is telling me to, which leaves me to wonder whether it is just trying to deceive me with its evil plan to mess up my manuscript

[Gary Compton]

I have a certificate from Peter Graham saying I use them correctly

[Gumboot]

I use them a lot; in fact I suspect I use them not only when appropriate, but when I should be using a colon.

[HareBrain]

Unless you're introducing a list or an explanation/definition, I don't think there are many instances where you should use a colon rather than a semi. I use semi-colons a lot; I think I picked it up from Lord of the Rings as a child.

[Hex]

See, I've seen people use semi-colons to introduce lists and I always thought it was a mistake, but recently I was reading something more old-fashioned (North and South, probably) and I saw one used before a list there. Much confusion.

I am renouncing the semi-colon (and the colon) and all its works.

@HB -- I'm shocked. In a sedate discussion about punctuation you, sir, had to go and lower the tone.

[HareBrain]

Yeah, I don't want to have much to do with the "works" of the colon either.

(I prefer to say "classic" joke rather than "old")

[Vertigo]

I just recently came across this rather nice quote on semicolons:

I have grown fond of semicolons in recent years. . . . It is almost always a greater pleasure to come across a semicolon than a period. The period tells you that that is that; if you didn't get all the meaning you wanted or expected, anyway you got all the writer intended to parcel out and now you have to move along. But with a semicolon there you get a pleasant little feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer.
__ Lewis Thomas

[HareBrain]

Excellent, Vertigo.

I like the way they "trip" you into the next part of the sentence, like stumbling on a stone in a path might trip you into a run. Surely no one could think those ones would be better replaced with full stops?

[Vertigo]

Yes I thought that and he's right they do lead you in with a feeling of expectancy!