Timeline for Is this a proper usage for a semicolon?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
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| Dec 2, 2011 at 3:45 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @ghoppe: Just because you can write it, doesn't make it valid to me. Clumsy sentence to start with - and it should be a dash, not a semicolon! :) | |
| Dec 2, 2011 at 0:44 | comment | added | ghoppe | @FumbleFingers It would be correct to follow a semicolon with and if there were many commas, say, because you were rambling on about something, something you couldn't quite put your finger on, but felt the need to emphasize; and there was a major, not minor, break in the sentence. In that case, using a semicolon rather than another comma increases comprehension. Admittedly, it is often better to just rewrite your thoughts into two or more sentences — or use that em dash. | |
| Dec 1, 2011 at 23:35 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Someone will probably find an example to contradict me, but at this precise moment I'm inclined to think it's never correct to follow a semicolon with the word "and". | |
| Dec 1, 2011 at 23:07 | comment | added | John Y | Perhaps the asker is considering "promoting" the clause-joining comma to a semicolon to make it stand out from the list-delimiting commas (especially because he or she has omitted the "and" before the last item). I agree it's unnecessary in this case, but it's not completely without reason. (For the record, I think @Robusto's answer is closest to the mark.) | |
| Dec 1, 2011 at 21:59 | history | edited | Mehper C. Palavuzlar | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 1 characters in body
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| Dec 1, 2011 at 20:38 | history | answered | Monica Cellio | CC BY-SA 3.0 |