PSA

[cimorene]

If you use a semi-colon incorrectly where there should have been a comma I will immediately back-button even if your story has been so far literate, even if it is not actually bad, and even though if in the same place you were meant to use a semi-colon and instead spliced a comma I would let it slide.

I can ride with the idea that semi-colons, belonging entirely to the realm of written language, are simply foreign to some people and that they are ignorant of them or have given up on them, and in a way I can respect that; after all, a brilliantly gifted storyteller and orator could (theoretically) be ignorant of semi-colons since they don't affect composition, which makes them, in a certain sense... decorative.

But if you're going to go for the semi-colon, okay, if you're going to attempt it, you'd better damn well have it down. If you're not sure, just forget it. Use a period or a comma or a rephrase or... you know. Get by. For the love of little green boxes, why would you make the semi-colon a regular part of your usage if you don't know how to use it? It's not like it's all that difficult. It shouldn't be possible to read and write it as a matter of course and remain ignorant or confused. This isn't Fizzbin. It isn't brain surgery. The rules don't change according to the time of month. They're actually somewhat flexible. They just don't allow, for example, a semi-colon to separate a noun from the gerund phrase (or any adjectival phrase) modifying it. As an orator, you'd lead people to believe you had forgotten your lines or had an itch in your throat if you added a semi-colon-weight pause in such a location, too.

Look at it this way: it's better to cannonball into the pool than to attempt a jack-knife dive and splat on your face.

Comments

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

I don't understand what's so hard about semicolons. Why are people scared of them?

After all, they do exactly what they look like they do. A semicolon has a period in it, which marks the end of the sentence. And they have a comma, which indicates that you want a soft pause instead of a full stop between that sentence and the next one.

Simple, innit?

The only other use is in a list, and that's also pretty easy to figure out.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I share your confusion precisely! And what in the world would make you think you wanted to divide a sentence in two between the subject and verb? To me that kind of error doesn't logically follow from, I don't know, lack of education or even lack of fluency or language skills - it just seems completely baffling, a total breakdown in the basic logic of thought. All human languages have subjects and verbs! Unless you're an alien, you'd think putting them together would come naturally.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've seen them used to divide between subject and verb, though I have seen many people use commas that way, which again...why? What made you think that was a good idea? Usually the misuse of semicolons I see is to separate a full sentence and a fragment rather than a second full sentence.