By: Ruth McMullen

The semicolon’s little wink has found its many purposes in our writing vocabulary since it was introduced to England around the time Shakespeare was born (Anderson par 5).  However, in Shakespeare’s time it was actually used for punctuation purposes, which appears to be quite different from now. Arthur Plotnik quotes John Irving in his piece “Semicolons With Soul,” saying “[n]o one knows what they are anymore … If you’re not in the habit of reading nineteenth-century novels, you think that the author has killed a fruit fly directly above a comma” (par 24). They seem to find more use as winking faces in text messages than they do as punctuation marks in literature today. This essay will explore how the semicolon is no longer necessary; it is now an expression of style.

The semicolon is not necessary for a piece of writing; a writer can consciously choose to use it or not to use it and its presence would not be missed. In fact, some writers write entire books without a semicolon just to make that point. Such a writer is George Orwell, who decided not to use a single semicolon in his book Coming Up for Air (Anderson par 3). Kurt Vonnegut warned writers not to use semicolons because “[a]ll they do is show you’ve been to college” (Anderson par 3). It is evident the semicolon has lost its place in modern writing; one need only to read a recent article and compare the number of semicolons used to an article written in the 1800s. There are more semicolons used in one short sentence of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice than there are in an entire book today: “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men”  (Austen 9).

The semicolon may not be needed in a piece of writing, but is it wanted? If the writing is for the newspaper the answer would most likely be no, since most editors feel the semicolon slows the article down (Plotnik par 24). Janet Byron Anderson states “…in reflective fields like journalism, business, law, and science, usage authorities are advising writers to think of alternatives to the semicolon, and to use it only as a last resort” (par 6). The semicolon has become more of an inconvenience than anything else in many writers’ eyes. Why use a semicolon when another punctuation mark, such as a period or comma, could do the same thing? Many stay away from the semicolon because they do not know what it means. Anderson advises writers to be cautious when using the semicolon, stating that it may be “ambiguous” (par 9). Perhaps if the semicolon was used more often, readers would be encouraged to learn what it actually means and the semicolon would not be facing the threat of extinction.

In her article “The Stylish Semicolon: Teaching Punctuation as Rhetorical Choice,” Angela Petit states that the semicolon “could be eliminated entirely from the English language, and the language would remain comprehensible, though far less rich.” She goes on to say the use of the semicolon is a matter of choice and the real issues are more “of style and rhetorical effect than precision and correctness” (68). The semicolon may not be necessary, but it is a tool used by the writer to bring the reader into the heart of what is being said. While some may see the semicolon as snobbish, others see it as having class. Noah Lukeman describes the semicolon as “probably the most elegant of all forms of punctuation” (Anderson par 2). Whether or not to use the semicolon is the writer’s choice; it is a fashion-statement, an expression of style. Just as one person prefers flared jeans to boot-leg or skinny, such is the relationship between the semicolon, comma and period.

There are some who may celebrate upon hearing of the semicolon’s decreasing employment in writing; however, others scoff at the idea. What kind of formless writing are people subjecting themselves to? The semicolon does seem to offer another dimension to writing, and the thought of there being a world without its friendly face seems dim indeed. Perhaps if many of the people who so strongly dislike the semicolon got to know it better, they would like it more. However, there is also the danger of liking it too much. Lynne Truss warns against this in her book Eats, Shoots & Leaves, stating “semicolons are dangerously habit-forming” (115). Could it be the authors with the undying love for the semicolon that drive everyone else away from it? While the semicolon is meant to offer a break to gather ones’ thoughts before plunging into the rest of the sentence, its overuse may not offer such a break. Instead, its presence may be an author’s avoidance of the period, dragging the reader through a sentence lasting a whole paragraph. Many philosophers, such as much-loved Plato and Thomas Hobbes, do such a thing, making for a rather painful and confusing read. Could it be philosophy students that run screaming when the semicolon is presented? It is not that daunting; it has simply been misunderstood.

Though Truss warns against the overuse of the semicolon, she also says, “[b]ut how much notice should we take of those pompous sillies who denounce the semicolon? I say, none at all. I say they are just show-offs” (109).  Many argue the semicolon’s services are no longer needed; however, there are certain qualities it holds that other punctuation marks simply could not do justice to. Plotnik writes: “the semicolon seems just right as a bridge between … two echoing clauses. It calls for a brief rhetorical pause, as before a punch line” (par 7). Just try using a comma to produce the same effect; it cannot be done. Petit writes that “the smallest punctuation mark signals a stylistic decision, distinguishing one writer from another and enabling an author to move an audience” (71). Every punctuation mark offers its own style, including the semicolon. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia says “[i]n every language, besides the sounds of the words that are strung together there are other features, such as tone, accent, and pauses, that are equally significant” (par 1). The semicolon offers a pause different than the comma and period. There are writers who still know this. As long as they are around they will not allow the semicolon to be pushed out of literature.

Although there are ways around the use of the semicolon, as proven by several authors, the style it offers cannot be replaced. If such a small punctuation mark arouses so much passion from those arguing for and against it, it can be safe to assume it will not be making its exit from papers any time soon. Plotnik states: “Unless new punctuation marks develop, the versatile semicolon will probably find enough uses for another millennium of writing” (par 20). This offers a sigh of relief to those dedicated followers of the semicolon; no need to worry, chances are that little eye will be seen winking at you for many years to come.

Works Cited

Anderson, Janet Byron. “Is the Semicolon Necessary? Punctuation in the Digital

Age.” Suite 101.com. 4 May 2009. Web. 14 Nov. 2009. <www.suite101.com>.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. 3^rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company,

2001. Print.

Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 6^th ed. “Punctuation.” Academic Search

Premier. 1 Jan. 2009: 1. EBSCOhost. Web. 14 Nov. 2009.

Petit, Angela. “The Stylish Semicolon: Teaching Punctuation as Rhetorical Choice.”

The English Journal, Vol. 92, No. 3. National Council of Teachers of English, Jan.

2003. 66-72. Web. 22 Nov. 2009.

Plotnik, Arthur. “Semicolons with Soul.” Academic Search Premier Oct. 2004: 16-

17. EBSCOhost. Web. 14 Nov. 2009.

Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.

New York: Gotham Books, 2003. Print.

Semicolon is pronounced /’sɛmɪkoʊlən/ and has two uses.

1. To separate two related, independent clauses.

Digital technology is becoming more advanced everyday; the future of our lives cannot be imagined so easily regarding the fast pace of its advancement.

The Government shunned the calls for negotiations; it was a signal which meant war.

Important Note

You must not use a conjunction like and, or, or but after the semicolon. However, you can use conjunctive adverbs after the semicolon.

2. To separate a complex series of items, especially the ones that contain commas.

I went to the party with Andy, my colleague; Jane, his wife; and Amy, my girlfriend.

_______________________________________

My company is collecting bunch of statistics from various sources, and mostly the data comes as CSV format.

The application parses and loads the data into the database.

Today we come up to a problem which needed a quick solution. One set of data was coming into one column as semi-colon seperated stings as :

select COL_1 from TABLE_1 ;

COL1
---------
1354;56;7;2;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0
3482;2;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0
953;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0

What we need  was a aggregation of these values , so we should seperate these values seperated by semi-colon’s.

First tried to use DBMS_UTILITY.COMMA_TO_TABLE built-in function to accomplish this. An example can be found here.

But is did not seemed to help , as is has a limitation of being predicated to Table Naming Rules of Oracle, and cannot start with numbers.

So I came up to a very nice script written by  Tony Andrews ..

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE parse AS
 /*
 || Package of utility procedures for parsing delimited or fixed position strings into tables
 || of individual values, and vice versa.
 */
 TYPE varchar2_table IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(32767) INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER;
 PROCEDURE delimstring_to_table
 ( p_delimstring IN VARCHAR2
 , p_table OUT varchar2_table
 , p_nfields OUT INTEGER
 , p_delim IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT ','
 );
 PROCEDURE table_to_delimstring
 ( p_table IN varchar2_table
 , p_delimstring OUT VARCHAR2
 , p_delim IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT ','
 );
 END parse;
 /
 CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY parse AS
 PROCEDURE delimstring_to_table
 ( p_delimstring IN VARCHAR2
 , p_table OUT varchar2_table
 , p_nfields OUT INTEGER
 , p_delim IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT ','
 )
 IS
 v_string VARCHAR2(32767) := p_delimstring;
 v_nfields PLS_INTEGER := 1;
 v_table varchar2_table;
 v_delimpos PLS_INTEGER := INSTR(p_delimstring, p_delim);
 v_delimlen PLS_INTEGER := LENGTH(p_delim);
 BEGIN
 WHILE v_delimpos > 0
 LOOP
 v_table(v_nfields) := SUBSTR(v_string,1,v_delimpos-1);
 v_string := SUBSTR(v_string,v_delimpos+v_delimlen);
 v_nfields := v_nfields+1;
 v_delimpos := INSTR(v_string, p_delim);
 END LOOP;
 v_table(v_nfields) := v_string;
 p_table := v_table;
 p_nfields := v_nfields;
 END delimstring_to_table;
 PROCEDURE table_to_delimstring
 ( p_table IN varchar2_table
 , p_delimstring OUT VARCHAR2
 , p_delim IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT ','
 )
 IS
 v_nfields PLS_INTEGER := p_table.COUNT;
 v_string VARCHAR2(32767);
 BEGIN
 FOR i IN 1..v_nfields
 LOOP
 v_string := v_string || p_table(i);
 IF i != v_nfields THEN
 v_string := v_string || p_delim;
 END IF;
 END LOOP;
 p_delimstring := v_string;
 END table_to_delimstring;
 END parse;
 /

Then I created a table which matches the source string structure.

CREATE TABLE TESTC
(
 VAL1   NUMBER, VAL2   NUMBER, VAL3   NUMBER, VAL4   NUMBER,
 VAL5   NUMBER, VAL6   NUMBER, VAL7   NUMBER, VAL8   NUMBER,
 VAL9   NUMBER, VAL10  NUMBER, VAL11  NUMBER, VAL12  NUMBER,
 VAL13  NUMBER, VAL14  NUMBER, VAL15  NUMBER, VAL16  NUMBER,
 VAL17  NUMBER, VAL18  NUMBER, VAL19  NUMBER, VAL20  NUMBER,
 VAL21  NUMBER, VAL22  NUMBER, VAL23  NUMBER, VAL24  NUMBER,
 VAL25  NUMBER, VAL26  NUMBER, VAL27  NUMBER, VAL28  NUMBER,
 VAL29  NUMBER, VAL30  NUMBER);

Using this parser package , I prepared my solution as :

declare
 v_tab parse.varchar2_table;
 v_nfields integer;
 v_string varchar2(1000) ;

 begin
for c1 in (select replace(A.COL_1,';',',') xx from TABLE_1)
loop
 parse.delimstring_to_table (c1.xx, v_tab, v_nfields);

 insert into testc values(v_tab(1),v_tab(2),v_tab(3),v_tab(4),v_tab(5),
v_tab(6),v_tab(7),v_tab(8),v_tab(9),v_tab(10),v_tab(11),v_tab(12),
v_tab(13),v_tab(14),v_tab(15),v_tab(16),v_tab(17),v_tab(18),
v_tab(19),v_tab(20),v_tab(21),v_tab(22),v_tab(23),v_tab(24),v_tab(25),
v_tab(26),v_tab(27),v_tab(28),v_tab(29),v_tab(30) );
end loop;
commit;
 end;
/

After inserting all data fo the new TESTC table, %99 percent of the job was done..

This is just some easy stuff to add to your growing knowledge about semicolons.

A semicolon must always be used before certain words in a sentence. These include:

consequently

hence

however

nevertheless

therefore

For example:

I am very short; consequently I need a stepladder when cleaning the tops of my cupboards.

These items are slightly damaged; hence the price.

I am very tired; however, I’ll soldier on.

He is a very rude man; nevertheless he got the job.

I’ve missed the train I wanted to catch; therefore I need to make other arrangements.

See also: The workhorse semicolon – lists

See also: The beautiful semicolon

wow, i can’t believe that fall semester is almost over, as in two more weeks left. i distinctly remember it being september and thinking that this semester will trudge on quite slowly. well, so much for that, eh? to be quite honest, i lost sight of what i would like to write on this blog so i just stopped and now i’m trying to start again and i don’t know where to start? for the past month or so, i have been doing a lot of reading, not necessarily for class, movie watching and bike riding. i guess the summative word is introspective? also, i had no idea that so many events occur on campus at one given day. i feel a bit disconnected to it because of two things: 1) i am a senior (although a fake one) and i am caught up all kinds of senior-y thoughts (whatever this means) and 2) i live off campus. actually the former really does not impact anything but the latter certainly does. living off campus means, i do not live in a dorm;* therefore, i am selectively living with a certain group of people, thus limiting my exposure to the greater tufts experience. it’s nice having one’s own room with sense of proper boundaries and belonging? after carting around my stuff from dorm to dorm to sublet to dorm to sublet to sublet and now house (much to my friends’ annoyance), it is a good feeling to feel settled down. as while tufts dorms aren’t bad, i have homey comfort! with a kitchen! woo! hmm, i forget where i’m going with this? oh, right. events. i realized that there are really cool things that occur on campus but i haven’t taken advantage of them this semester which is odd because i love free food and cool occurrences… well especially free food. wow, i’m so random. after taking a break for 5 mins from this post, i completely forgot the purpose. so i think i’ll just leave it here for now. haha.

*whenever i use the semi-colon, i am referred back to the short vignette in a man with no country by kurt vonnegut. he said something to the effect that only pretentious students in college use it. i may be reiterating this completely incorrectly, so my apologies! but just know it was pretty hilarious.

How many millions of people read the Yahoo! front page every day? How many of them noticed these errors?

The semicolon should be a comma (it takes the place of an and). If you adhere to Associated Press style (which Yahoo! allegedly does), you form the plural possessive of a singular proper noun ending in S (like Williams) by adding just an apostrophe.

The semicolon is a beautiful punctuation mark but we’ve grown a little afraid of it.

Grammatical Luddites have taken against it entirely, saying it’s the equivalent of a sock garter: we simply don’t need it anymore.

Well, that ain’t so. Not if you want to add elegance, clarity and – yes – beauty to your writing.

(The semicolon is also an excellent workhorse when creating lists – which I’ll cover in another post.)

Using the semicolon to join two sentences together

This post is about using the semicolon to join two sentences together to make a far superior one. And just to entice you in, I want you to read this perfect sentence from George Orwell’s essay, Shooting an Elephant:

“And afterwards I was very glad that the coolie had been killed; it put me legally in the right and it gave me a sufficient pretext for shooting the elephant.”

Imagine a full stop after ‘killed’ – it would have ruined the whole flow and impetus of the sentence. (killed it, in fact.)

Get semicolon savvy

The first rule of thumb to follow is that a semicolon must only be used when the two halves of the sentence could each make a complete sentence in their own right if a full stop were used instead.

For example, a full stop would work (although not as well) instead of a semicolon in the following sentences:

“The dress is exquisite; the shoes are divine.”

“We travelled for a long time; the road seemed to go on forever.”

“She is the most beautiful woman in the world; the cameras love her.”

The second rule of thumb is to ensure that the two halves of your sentence are closely connected in subject matter with one thought logically leading you onto the next. Or, you could think of it as:

“I’m saying this about something; now I’m going to say this about the same subject in a way that makes the sentence flow together beautifully as a whole.”

So – use a semicolon when the second half of your sentence follows on and flows naturally from the first half. You don’t want to stop the reader after the first half; you want to draw them on.

Think of it as a gentle crescendo, or two layers of the same cake: hard to prise apart and more satisfying when eaten together.

A third thumb – when not to use a semicolon

If your sentence uses a ‘linking word’ between its two halves, you must not use a semicolon. Linking words include:

 And

But

Or

Nor

For

While

Yet

 For example, look at these sentences:

 “He is so ugly in real life, yet the cameras love him.”

 “Mary is very keen to go, but she cannot decide what to wear.”

Thanks to those little words ‘yet’ and ‘but’ a comma suffices and the semicolon is not required.

Now here's a guy who takes his punctuation seriously.

This morning I received a message from a new e-friend, Tammy Lubbers, whose Facebook page is here.

“You wrote a book about punctuation?” she wrote. [She is referring to Comma Sense, a book that I don't think it immodest of me to acknowledge has made me famous throughout my house.] I KNEW I liked you! I’ve decided to begin a petition to eradicate apostrophes, as they are rarely used correctly. Want to join?”

I was appalled; I was aghast; I was mortified; I was eating a bowl of Life cereal, which is perfectly named since it’s not quite sweet enough.

Milk flying everywhere, I fired back this missile of a missive:

“God, no. I LOVE and constantly use the semicolon; I wholly depend upon it. SEE?! You start a club about how to use [the semicolon] correctly, and I’m your man. But eradicate it? No, no, no, no, no. We only have 13 punctuation marks, total. I NEED the semicolon. NEED, I SAY!!!”

My wife Catherine thinks I’m insane about punctuation. She’s wrong, of course. Period.

Now then. As a reader of my blog, I know that you are a literate: sophisticated, educated, knowledgable knowledgible smart. And Mrs. Lubbers, I happen to know, isn’t exactly a drooling admirer of shiny objects. So I ask: What think you of this move I have reason to know is burgeoning out there, of eradicating the semicolon? Are you for that? Is anyone? Do people really not know how to use this noblest (if most finicky) of punctuation marks?

If more of you vote for eradicating than saving the semicolon, I will swallow my protests, bow to your will, and see to it that the semicolon vanishes from use.

That’s right. I can do that. They don’t let just anybody write those books, you know.

So what say you, reader? Thumbs up or down for Ye Oldye Semicolon?

Related to this is my completely excellent When Punctuation Goes Really, Really Wrong.

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You know the shine that happens after you’ve used a computer keyboard for a year or so?  My key between the ‘l’ and the ‘ ‘/” ‘ keys doesn’t have that shine.  And there’s little hope to change that.  The Guardian article on semicolons may be one of the most entertaining and enlightening pieces about the death of the the little piece of punctuation that is both a period and a comma but neither a period or a comma.  But I think there’s another reason for the shift in punctuation.

How did the semicolon survive the age of the telegraph but hasn’t made it through the age of email and text messaging?  What’s changed?  Somewhere along the line the semicolon fell out of fashion.  Yes, it’s dangerous to assume anyone knows how and where to use a semicolon (especially for those of us that don’t carry around our Chicago Manual of Style in a hemp messenger bag) and it might be even more pretentious to use a semicolon and expect the same person to understand how to read it.  But the biggest challenge in the 21st century is to appear both lavish and earth at the same time without ever simply splitting the difference and this is where the semicolon lost it’s place.

It’s important to dress successfully, but never at the expense of comfort or utility (JCrew figured this out two decades ago) and although your chinos may have cost $200 you don’t want to make your co-worker in $40 Dockers feel bad, so you always opt for the worn chino style.  However, you must also wear a $400 Gore-Tex jacket when it’s barely drizzling outside to demonstrate that you really could go climb K2 this summer because you are that hip, that in touch and that real.  You must have read at least 3 Jane Austen novels, but you would never so display your literary streak as to publicly humiliate someone who has read only one Austen novel.  You should also know enough about Harry Potter to know his middle name (it’s James), but your Harry Potter fetish can’t be so extreme that you know exactly when the next movie is being released.  You must always be two things.

This balancing of appearances between the upper class and the bourgeois killed the semicolon.  A semicolon is too serious for casual writing and it’s not clear and direct enough for business proposals.  Using a semicolon nowadays would be a bit like combining your $500 distressed jeans with loafers (a criminal offense in Milan).  The real choice is between the simple environmentally friendly flip-flops (a comma), or the definitive designer boots (a period).  The challenge is to be both upper class and bourgeois and splitting the difference is being neither.  So we are left with a terribly out of fashion semicolon in a world of commas and periods; however, emoticons are still hip, so that computer key isn’t going anywhere yet.

Getting my semicolon tattoo the day before National Punctuation Day was a complete coincidence, but it makes for a good title I got it on the bottom inside of my left pointer finger in dark brown. I LOVE it! I’m really hoping it heals up OK.

I also got another Sanskrit word above the one I already had on my right arm. New one says “balance”.

And all together…

And here’s the links to my Jonathon Livingston Seagull post and my Siddhartha post in case you want to see my other literary tattoos

Hope you have a great Punctuation Day!!

A. Grab a “Grammar Conventions” Handout

B. Pen, Pencil, Planner

1. Grade Checks

2. The Official Class Rules

3. What if I do?

4. What if I don’t?

5. Vocabulary

6. Grammar/Syntax/Punctuation: What’s important?

a. What really matters?

b. What really doesn’t?

c. THE (unbelievably awesome) SEMICOLON (It’s two things.)

Advisory: Discussion: “Begin with the END in Mind”

If you’re interviewing a TV celebrity like Nancy Snyderman, wouldn’t you take extra care to spell her name right? If you’re writing for Yahoo! Shine, such standards of traditional journalism are optional:

I wish there were an association that licensed writers, so that you’d know they were board-certified journalists, and not hacks with little regard for the niceties of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. They’d give us the good — and sometimes bad — news in well-written, correct prose. They’d know to join two independent clauses with a colon, and not a comma. They’d take pride in their work. And we’d trust their writing. I wish.

**Note: These rules are for writing books. My source is the Chicago Manual of Style. If you are writing articles, some of the rules are a bit different. Refer to the Associated Press Stylebook if you are writing articles.

I. The Colon

A. Capitalization

How do you know whether or not to capitalize the first word following a colon? Always have the word be lowercase except in the following circumstances:

1. If the first word is a proper noun.

Ex: The people who should be on the bus are the following: Mark, Christa, Drew, and Kelley.

2. If the colon precedes a definition or a direct quote.

Ex: When Christy got angry at Karen, Jill told her not to Jake out: An act or instance of turning into a werewolf. (Inspired by the book Twilight.)

Ex: The poignant words of Douglas Adams state: “Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

3. If the colon comes before two or more related sentences.

Ex: Robert had three options: He could walk the six miles to the library. He could call someone and beg a ride. Or he could just take Grandma Nan’s car.

4. If the colon introduces dialogue lines in a speech or drama.

Ex: Juliette: Then, window, let day in, and let life out.
Romeo: Farewell, farewell! One kiss and I’ll descend.

B. Where to use a colon

A colon means as follows. It is used to introduce something (or a series of things).

1. Use a colon after a complete sentence to direct attention to a list.

Ex: Marcia’s daily workout was supposed to include at least the following: twenty sit-ups, ten push-ups, and fifteen minutes of cardio.

Ex: Give us the following construction materials: wood, hammers, and nails.

Ex: This summer our family plans to visit four western states: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.

2. Use a colon after a complete sentence to direct attention to an appositive: A word or phrase that means the same thing.

Ex: Shelby was shocked at what she saw: her reflection.

Ex: We found Fluffy sleeping in her favorite spot: the tree in the backyard.

Ex: There is one obstacle I must conquer before graduation: passing all my classes.

3. Use a colon after a complete sentence to direct attention to a quotation.

Ex: Consider the words of Mother Theresa: “Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.”

II. The Semicolon

1. A semicolon is used to separate closely related independent clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction.

Say what?

Basically, use a semicolon if you want to glue two sentences together that are similar.

Ex: Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Ex: Ten finalists performed to be the next American Idol; only two remain.

Ex: Mr. Sanchez is a successful chef; however, he won’t eat his own cooking.

Each of the independent clauses (or sets of words between the semicolons) are complete sentences on their own. You can’t use a semicolon if these are only phrases. You also can’t use a semi colon if you have a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or) between the sentences.

If you did put a comma where a semicolon is above, you will have created a comma splice, which is a very icky error. Be sure to look carefully at all your clauses. If they are complete sentences, you need a semicolon. If they aren’t, you don’t need a semicolon.

2. A semicolon is also used between items in a series that contain internal punctuation.

Ex: The classic fantasy novels that are big right now are Harry Potter, with the boy wizard with a lightning bolt scar; Eragon, with the young dragon rider; and the timeless Chronicles of Narnia, where children enter a magical land through a wardrobe.

III. Dashes

There are two kinds of dashes that are used most often in writing: and em dash — and an en dash – 

Please note that there should be NO SPACE before or after either type of dash.

A. The em dash

To create the em dash, type a word, then type two hyphens, then type the next word, then type a space. Do not put any spaces until you are done with the sequence.

What you type will look like this: word–word(space)

When you hit that last space bar, the two dashes will convert to an em dash.

1. Use an em dash to set off parenthetical material that you want to emphasize.

Ex: Everything that went wrong—from her C- on our history project to Tom breaking up with her—Shelly blamed on me.

Ex: Can you believe that Susie Walker—a cheerleader and a freshman—won homecoming queen?

2. Use an em dash to set off appositives that contain commas.

Ex: When you apply the make-up—foundation, mascara, eye shadow, and lipstick—be sure to follow the guidelines.

3. Use an em dash to signify a break it thought.

Ex: “I can’t believe Mr. Thomas—did you just say she had the baby?”

4. Use an em dash to signify an interruption.

Ex: “I don’t know why it happened. Maybe it’s because—”

“I don’t want to head an excuse. I’m sick of them!”

B. The en dash

To create the en dash, type a word, type a space, then type one hyphen, then type the next word, then type a space. What you type will look like this: word(space)-word(space)

When you hit that last space bar, the dash will convert to an en dash. NOTE: You will have to go back and take out the first space once the dash is converted. It is proper format that no space appear before or after the dash. If you read Harry Potter, you will see spaces with her dashes. Keep in mind that J. K. Rowling is a British author and the punctuation and grammar rules are different there. I am teaching the rules for the United States.

1. Use an en dash to connect inclusive numbers such as: page numbers, dates, or Bible references. Here the en dash means ‘up to and including’ or ‘through.’

Ex: Please read in your text pages 86–92.

Ex: I went to college from 1993–1997.

Ex: I read John 3:16–17 and it changed my life.

IV. Ellipses

Ellipsis are used to show thought trailing off. If your character is confused, insecure, uncertain, falling asleep, or passing out, an ellipses is the tool you want to convey this.

Ex: “Where . . . I had it right . . . then medallion . . . I must have dropped it!”

Ex: “I want to go there . . . first thing . . . in the morning.”

Ex: “Okay. I’ll tell you who shot me. It was . . .” Kit’s body went limp in John’s arms.

V. Apostrophes

Use an apostrophe to replace omitted letters in a word. If your font uses curly quotes, make sure that the apostrophe curls in the right direction. This way in the front: ’ and this way in the back: ’

Ex: “There be no tellin’ what he’ll do now.” (The apostrophe takes the place of the “g” in “telling.”

 Ex: “All you kids do is sit around listening to that loud rock ’n’ roll.” (The apostrophe before the “n” takes the place of the “a” in “and.” The apostrophe after the “n” takes the place of the “d” ion “and”.

Ex: “I won’t come out ’til you promise not to laugh!” (The apostrophe takes the place of the “un” in “until.”

VI. Numbers

Spell out numbers round numbers (hundreds, millions). Spell out numbers one through one hundred. Spell out numbers in reference to age. Spell out all numbers that begin a sentence. Use numerals (1234) for all other numbers.

Ex: Michael crouched down. “There are millions of ants here!”

Ex: “I need two hundred and fifty copies of the flyer,” Megan said.

Ex: “I need 2,500 copies of the flyer,” Megan said.

Ex: “She’s ninety-six years old!”

Ex: “One, I can’t understand why you hate me. And two, I don’t like you either.”

VII. Time

Always spell out the time of day unless you are referring to the exact time.

Ex: Drew went to be at five o’clock exhausted from the tournament.

Ex: “Mom slept in and I missed my nine-thirty dentist appointment.”

Ex: “I get to church way early because the Sunday bus goes by my house at 7:10.”

Ex: “Class starts directly at 8:35 tomorrow morning. Don’t be late!”

VIII. Dates

Dates are written with numerals. Do not write August 1st.

Ex: August 1.

Ex: “On January 1, 2000, there were no major fallouts due to the new millennium.”

Ex: “The photograph is copyright April 1942.”

Ex: On 5 February, 1903 Mario and his family arrived in America.

When a day is mentioned without the month or year, spell out the number.

Ex: “By the fifteenth, finals will be over and we can focus on the Christmas holidays!”

There are TONS more rules. Like I mentioned last month, if you are serious about writing, get yourself a grammar reference book. Again, my recommendations are: Strunk, White, and Angell’s Elements of Style, O’Conner’s Woe Is I: A Grammaphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English, two books by Bill Walsh, Elephants of Style and Lapsing Into a Comma, as well as Cochrane and Humphry’s Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English.

Or, if you want to be really thorough, get a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style if you are writing books. It has all the rules you never wanted to know. If you are writing articles for newspapers or magazines, get a copy of the Associated Press Stylebook.

This ends my thoughts on punctuation. Next post I’ll get into something more exciting by discussing description. The fact that you must describe, and how to describe things without boring your readers to death, without taking eight pages to do it, and without using clichés.

This article is published in the Tuesday  issues of Deccan Chronicle .

The colon and the semicolon are very often misused or overused. The colon is used in a variety of different ways. It acts to connect what precedes it with what follows.

Example: Seema got all the shopping done for her mother: vegetables, meat, fish and milk.

The rule here is to think of the colon as an equals to sign.

The shopping = vegetables, meat, fish and milk. However there are a few of exceptions to this rule. One is the use of the colon between the chapter and verses of a Biblical citation.

Example: Mark 2:3.

The other is the separation of minutes from hours in the time.

Example: Seema looked at the kitchen clock and saw that it was 5:15 pm.

The semicolon implies separation. So if you are writing a sentence that is made up of two distinct parts and you need to emphasise a point you can do it with a semicolon.

Example: Seema moved house; she was being harassed by the landlord.

You also use a semicolon when a compound sentence contains commas within one or more of its clauses. Here you need to use the semicolon to separate the clauses.

Example: It was a cool, pleasant and utterly beautiful day; so Seema decided to take a leisurely walk in the park.
You use a semicolon to separate one series of long items from another. Example: Seema’s work table needed several things: a flower vase; a mug that she could keep her pens in; files and blue, green, yellow and white paper clips; and a planner.

if the phrases, which make up the series, contain commas they must be separated by semicolons.

Let’s have a little fun. First of all try to write a C code to print Hello World! without using semicolons. Here’s the answer in C

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    if (printf("Hello World!\n")) {}
}

or if you are a hardcore C++ fan then

#include <iostream>
int main()
{
    if (std::cout << "Hello world!" << std::endl)
    {}
}

But the real gem is the following program. A program to find the factorial of a number.

#include<iostream>
int main(int n)
{
    if (std::cin>>n)
    {
        if (int f=1 )
        {
            while (n != 1)
            {
                if ( f = n * f )
                {
                   if (--n){}
                }
            }
            if(std::cout<<"fac = "<<f<<std::endl)
            {}
        }
        else
        {}
    }
}

Infact any C program can be converted a non-semicolon form.

NJOY!
-fR0D

I know, you all have been waiting with baited breath for the second part of my mini-series on commonly repeated writing mistakes. Wait no more, here it is!

When we last left off we were discussing Doctor Block’s German Shepard, role-playing, and Sheila’s pencil…today, we are going to finish off with the semicolon, acronyms, and parentheses.

Common Writing Mistake #4: The Semicolon.

The semicolon, not be confused with the colon, can be a tricky little beast. Why not just use a comma? Well folks, it all comes down to relationships and lists.

When you have two thoughts on a matter, they can be written in three ways:

1. Time Magazine wrote a great article about Twitter. The slew of observations made it engaging.  

2. Time Magazine wrote a great article about Twitter, and the slew of observations made it engaging.

3. Time Magazine wrote a great article about Twitter; the slew of observations made it engaging.

Although all three styles are correct, each has a slightly different intonation. Notice how the last style (#3) indicates a closer relationship between the two thoughts, is more brief, and almost more forcible. I know, it may be almost imperceptible, but think about how you want to express your thoughts, and use the semicolon to communicate them eloquently.

Hold your hay wagon. There are three other instances when you need to use a semicolon. Use a semicolon when your thoughts are separated by a conjunctive adverb. A con what? (Let me wet your noodle:  nonetheless, therefore, besides, then, otherwise, etc.) Use a semicolon when your thoughts are separated by a transitional expression, and use it when you have a list of three or more elements that have internal commas (but NOT to introduce the list, that’s when you whip out the ol’ colon).

The Chargers are a great team; however, they just can’t seem to win a Superbowl.

Michael Jackson’s success is unsurpassed; for example, his Thriller album is the best-selling album of all time.

We read three magazines: (a) Esquire, for the trendy man; (b) Cosmopolitan, for the young woman; and (c) The New Yorker, for the metropolitan junkie.

NOT: Wonder Woman has three super powers; strength,  stamina, and breasts.

Common Writing Mistake #5: Acronyms.

First of all, don’t assume everyone knows what KTF means, or that everyone has the same frame of reference. KTF can refer to Korean Taekwondo Federation, Kauai Test Facility, or Kermit The Frog. The moral of that story: if you’re going to abbreviate (i.e. use an acronym) spell it out first , and after it, put the acronym in parentheses. Once you use the acronym don’t switch between it and the complete term, that looks both a little “schizo” and unprofessional. Remember too, not all acronyms are associated with capitalized terms; some people prefer to use OR for operating room even though “operating room” is not capitalized. That trivial fact plagued me for several years…

Examples of proper acronym use:

The Venture Brothers (VC) is my favorite animated series.

My best friend forever (BFF) told me that everyone at school wants to date the guy I like; I feel hopeless.

Letters in acronyms are not separated by periods unless it’s the initials of someones name (J.R. Ewing) or it’s a Latin abbreviation (i.e.). Use Latin abbreviations sparingly (preferably never) in a sentence, but rather in parentheses. Another tidbit: plurals of abbreviations may or may not be written with an apostrophe-s, but I think it looks a lot sharper without the apostrophe.

Every woman needs one great-fitting pair of jeans, a favorite t-shirt, a suit, and a little black dress; but she needs plenty of accessories (shoes, belts, earrings, necklaces, etc.).

The IQs for many populations have been rising at an average rate of three points per decade since the early 20th Century.

Finally, units of measurement. I have seen probably ten different approaches for expressing five feet. So…is it five feet, 5 ft., of five ft? I don’t want to get into a numbers game right now (just remember spell out all numbers under10), but the rule is this: If you are writing a technical paper, abbreviate units of measurement, if not, spell them out.

Common Writing Mistake #6: Parentheses.

Parenthetical expressions are digressions, explanations, facts, or examples. They are non-essential to the message of your sentence, and should be enclosed in parentheses.

If all martians were like The Great Gazoo (little, green, cute, and happy), we would all believe in flying saucers.

If your sentence has a parenthetical expression, punctuate as if it wasn’t there (i.e. outside the last parentheses); unless it is the sentence, then punctuate within the parentheses. If your parenthetical expression is a question or exclamation, include those marks within the parentheses.

We believed he was right (and why should we have doubted him?), so we followed him into the tunnel.

If you need to digress within your digression, use brackets within the parentheses.

I woke up feeling refreshed (despite the frigid temperature [-40 degrees Celsius] and darkness outside), and immediately began writing my memoir.

Thank-you again to The Little, Brown Compact Handbook and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for assistance. Today, an additional thanks to The Elements of Style.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please contact me through my website: www.aohwrite.com. Happy writing, and enjoy the summer heat!

I’m not talking about sending The Clash to college, I’m talking about the use of improper punctuation.

Were you paying attention?  I just did it.  Very first sentence.  (We’ll discuss fragments in another post.)  The two clauses in that sentence are both independent an thus should be joined by a conjunction (and/but/or/a few others) or a semicolon.  But I used a comma.  What kind of vandal does that make me, desecrating the laws of punctuation like that?

Renni Browne and David King, in their book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, suggest that using commas in the place of commas or semicolons (in small doses) can lend some modern sophistication to a story.  They especially seem to advocate the use in dialogue, but it follows by extension that character thoughts might also benefit from such comma usage.  They claim it better represents the rhythm of human speech.

“Don’t worry about it, she’s only sixteen.”

“Try the blue ones, they taste like cotton candy.”

He pushed the engines harder, the entire ship started to shake.

Semicolon genocide

In these examples, a semicolon is probably the “correct” punctuation mark to use.  Do the commas detract from the meaning?  I doubt it.  (Full disclosure: the first sentence is from the book, the other two are mine.)  They could even be independent sentences with periods where the commas are.  That might make the sentences seem choppy (and hence the paragraph or even a scene).  It’s a convention I try to pay attention to when I read.  I tend to like it, though semicolons and I are still well acquainted.

I carry the convention a bit further.  For instance, I occasionally leave out commas between independent clauses joined with a conjunction.  This was pointed out to me in a recent critique.  While the critiquer suggested the offense was widespread, this was the sentence used to illustrate:

Her son would remain a [drug] dealer and she would continue to supply him.

I confess, there should definitely be a comma in front of the and.  But.  (Wow, how’s that for a fragment?  Too much?)  The point of this part of the scene was to express the main character’s resgnation to the fact that she has fallen into a perpetual cycle that she can’t escape.  The thoughts are supposed to be droning and a bit muddled.  I feel like the run-on sentence here portrays that feeling pretty well, kind of a punctuation poetry.  I’m not great with poetic devices like alliteration that could probably do something similar (I try on occasion).  I just think it works.  It can also work to express when a character feels rushed or anxious.

To me, this falls in the same category as starting sentences with conjunctions and ending sentences with prepositions.  I wouldn’t do it in a dissertation; I find it acceptable — even beneficial — in fiction.

Am I an expert?  Interesting question.  I have no degrees in English (or any other language), literature, creative writing, needlepoint, poetry, or juggling.  I have no professional publishing credits.  I have never held a job as any sort of editor.  I’m not even very good with chopsticks.  So who am I to say these things are okay?

Then again, I do have more published SF stories than any English teacher/professor I ever had (that I know of, some might lead secret lives).  I can, of course, point to a thousand examples from true professionals (but those big-wigs can get away with anything).  And who is more qualified than me to declare what belongs in my fiction?  Oh yeah, editors.

Will an editor reject my story because it needed a semicolon instead of a comma?  I hope not.  They might even decide I didn’t know the difference between a semicolon and a comma and still request a rewrite, perhaps even asign the editing chore in-house.  More likely they would decide the story was pretty good and buy it if it was close enough that punctuation was the deciding factor.

I’d like to think that some editors (not likely all, but some) would hop on board with Browne and King and find  sophistication in the punctuation (or at least appreciate the rhyme).  I have a fairly significant mastery of the rules of grammar and thus use these non-standard forms intentionally (or at worst subconsciously).  I consider them a strength in my writing.  I just need to find editors who agree.

It might be wise to reserve these non-standard techniques until after the reader is hooked.  Wouldn’t it suck to have a story nixed by a slush reader because I missed two commas and a semicolon on the first page?  Or have an editor open an e-submission in Word and see nothing but green squiggles?

So I will continue to dabble in the dark arts of non-standard punctuation when I find it to my benefit.  I’ll go through a story or two tomorrow with an eye for this specifically; overuse can minimize the effect, after all.  I encourage people to do the same, even watch for it in stories I critique to see if I can find a reason they chose a given style.  (I probably miss some intentionals and over-rationalize mistakes.)

For the record, I encourage my reviewers to point out any fishy punctuation they find in my stories.  I may not have done it intentionally or I may not realize how often I’ve done it.  Never break a rule you don’t know and you always need to know when yyou broke a rule.

-Oso

Posted by heathercurley under Randomness

Still not bringing my A-Game here. I blame it on the fact I am quite easily distracted by entertainment gossip. First Farrah, then Michael, now Billy Mays? June was a good month NOT to be a celeb. Anyway.

I recently joined a critique group; online of course because as we all know I’m a tad bit too lazy to actually drive somewhere. The critique group is awesome–got some really good feedback on my newest work in progress (on a related side note, I’m too terrified to send the finished one in for crit because I’M BACK TO HATING IT). I was startled, nay shocked, to learn that my BFF–the semicolon–is rarely invited to the party anymore. Apparently in the romance genre, the semicolon is frowned upon. I guess you can still use it in other genres, but in romance it is kind of like a faux pas.

I mourn this. I love the semicolon! Where are these bizarre punctuation rules coming from? I’ve read on other blogs that only “idiots” put two spaces after periods anymore because this is 2009 and we aren’t using typewriters. One person even went as far as to say that editors won’t accept your work if you use two spaces after the period. Seriously? I really hope that it just a nasty rumor with no truth to it. Because if not, that really sucks.

I really can’t figure out what is wrong with the semicolon. But this apparently means I can bring an old friend, the em dash (–) back into play. In high school, my creative writing teach informed me that em dashes (–) were incorrect in writing and the mark of an incompetent, novice writer. HA, take that…lady’s whose name I don’t remember. Miss King? Wow, was high school that long ago that I don’t even remember teachers names? Sad.

Has anyone else out there heard of this sudden avoidence to semicolon? Heaven help comma, because I would die if a limit was put on his use. A day without commas is like a day without sunshine.

On July 5th, I’m starting two online writing courses. One is on past life regression and using it to create cool characters. The other is on plotting. And, just to throw another wrench in the works, I’m applying to grad school. So, I’m taking the Miller Analogies Test this month too. Because, you know, I’ve really missed studying vocab and suffixes. In the end, studying for the MAT makes me realize just how much crap I’ve forgotten. It’s terrible to get old.

I think once these classes start, I’m going to repost a three part blog “series” (I use that term loosely) I wrote when I went to a writers conference last year. It’s more of a study about how inept I am at maneuvering said conference than anything else, but still reasonably entertaining. So, at least there’s that to look forward to.

She herself had been established in Venice for fifteen years and had done a great deal of good there; but the circle of her benevolence did not include the two shy, mysterious, and, as it was somehow supposed, scarcely respectable Americans (they were believed to have lost in their long exile all national quality, besides having had, as their name implied, some French strain in their origin), who asked no favors and desired no attention.
—Henry James, “The Aspern Papers”

All right, then. Let’s tackle Henry James!

The thing about James is that, convoluted as his sentences became toward the end of his career (and this is not by any means the most convoluted), I have yet to find a single instance of grammatical or punctuation error—not a single mangled verb or misused semicolon, not even a misplaced comma. The man was a grammatical machine. I think he avoided simplicity just for the exercise.

First off, this is a compound sentence, joined by the coordinating conjunction, but. So we’ll be parsing the two combined sentences one-by-one.

First sentence:

She herself had been established in Venice for fifteen years and had done a great deal of good there;

Subject-verb:

She had been and had done

Any modifiers for that subject, She? Yes. A reflexive pronoun acting as an adjective:

She herself

Any more modifiers for that subject, She? Yes. A participle with the first verb, had been:

She had been established

A couple of auxiliary verbs there, putting the main verbs been and done into the pluperfect (my favorite grammatical word—it sounds like it was made up by a three-year-old). James used auxiliary verbs with aplomb.

Note the coordinating conjunction:

and

Any  modifiers for those verbs? Yes. Two adverbial prepositional phrases for the first verb, had been, and an adverb for the second verb, had done:

had been established in Venice. . .for years
had done there

Any modifiers for those? Yes. An adjective for the second prepositional phrase, for years:

for fifteen years

Any objects for the verbs? One object for the second verb, had done:

had done deal

Any modifiers for that object? An article, an adjective, and an adjective prepositional phrase:

a great deal of good

That’s nice! She sounds a real treat.

But! On to the second sentence:

the circle of her benevolence did not include the two shy, mysterious, and, as it was somehow supposed, scarcely respectable Americans (they were believed to have lost in their long exile all national quality, besides having had, as their name implied, some French strain in their origin), who asked no favors and desired no attention.

Now that’s a beauty.

Subject-verb:

circle did include

Any modifiers for the subject, circle? Yes. An article and an adjective prepositional phrase:

the circle of benevolence

Any modifiers for the object of that prepositional phrase? A possessive pronoun:

of her benevolence

That’s the subject, then.

The auxiliary verb, did, is necessary in order to include the negative adverb, not. That’s how English negative adverbs work:

did not include

Any objects for that verb? Yes.

did not include Americans

Any modifiers for this object? Holy cow, are there! Now we’re right in the thick of things. Let’s start with the simple adjectives—an article, a quantity, and three regular adjectives:

the two shy, mysterious, and respectable Americans

Again, note their coordinating conjunction:

and

Any modifiers for these adjectives? Yes. An adjective for respectable:

scarcely respectable

Any modifiers for this adjective? A lovely adjective clause for the adjective’s adjective, scarcely (triple-layer adjective!), long enough to need its own commas:

as it was somehow supposed

Subject-verb:

it was

Participle for the subject, it:

supposed

Adjective for the participle:

was somehow supposed

Note the subordinating conjunction:

as

And now we get to an even more fun part. A parenthetical adjective clause for the object, Americans!

(they were believed to have lost in their long exile all national quality, besides having had, as their name implied, some French strain in their origin)

Subject-verb:

they were

That’s all for the subject verb? Yes. That’s all.

Any modifiers for the subject, they? Two participles:

they were believed besides having had

What’s that word in between? That’s called an adverbial conjunction:

besides

James loved unusual conjunctions.

Excellent. Can a participle take an object like a regular verb? Yes, it can. This one has an infinitive verbal direct object:

believed to have

Any modifier for that verbal direct object? Yes. Another participle:

believed to have lost

How about modifiers for these participles, lost and having had? (You see how he’s got two participles on different layers working here, a complex and rather risky design, like grammatical cousins once-removed.) Two adjective prepositional phrases:

have lost in exile
having had in origin

Modifiers for the objects of these prepositional phrases? Two possessive pronouns and a regular adjective:

in their long exile
in their origin

Very tidy. Any objects for those participles, lost and having had? Yes,indeed. One for each:

were believed to have lost quality besides having had strain

Any modifiers for these objects? Two adjectives:

national quality
French strain

Any modifiers for these adjectives? Two more adjectives:

all national
some French

Any more modifiers for these participles, lost and having had? Yes. Another lovely adjective clause for the second participle, having had:

as their name implied

Subject-verb:

name implied

Adjective, a possessive pronoun:

their name

Subordinating conjunction:

as

Whew! Any more? Yes—yet another adjective clause for the object, Americans:

who asked no favors and desired no attention.

Subject-verb:

who asked and desired

Any modifiers for the subject, who? No.

Any modifiers for the verbs? Mercifully, no.

But note their coordinating conjunction:

and

Any objects for the verbs? Yes.

asked favors and desired attention

Any modifiers for those objects? Two negatives:

asked no favors and desired no attention

Are we done?

Yes. And lived to parse another day!

You see why James has a reputation as the King of the Spaghetti Stylists, a man who could twist a sentence up in a knot just by folding his arms, picking up both ends of the sentence, and unfolding his arms again. But listen to the rhythm he achieved! Like rolling thunder.

The endangered Semicolon

Still not bringing my A-Game here.  I blame it on the fact I am quite easily distracted by entertainment gossip.  First Farrah, then Michael, now Billy Mays?  June was a good month NOT to be a celeb.  Anyway.

I recently joined a critique group; online of course because as we all know I’m a tad bit too lazy to actually drive somewhere.  The critique group is awesome–got some really good feedback on my newest work in progress (on a related side note, I’m too terrified to send the finished one in for crit because I’M BACK TO HATING IT).  I was startled, nay shocked, to learn that my BFF–the semicolon–is rarely invited to the party anymore.  Apparently in the romance genre, the semicolon is frowned upon.  I guess you can still use it in other genres, but in romance it is kind of like a faux pas. 

I mourn this.  I love the semicolon!  Where are these bizarre punctuation rules coming from?  I’ve read on other blogs that only “idiots” put two spaces after periods anymore because this is 2009 and we aren’t using typewriters.  One person even went as far as to say that editors won’t accept your work if you use two spaces after the period.  Seriously?  I really hope that it just a nasty rumor with no truth to it.  Because if not, that really sucks.

I really can’t figure out what is wrong with the semicolon.  But this apparently means I can bring an old friend, the em dash (–) back into play.  In high school, my creative writing teach informed me that em dashes (–) were incorrect in writing and the mark of an incompetent, novice writer.  HA, take that…lady’s whose name I don’t remember.  Miss King?  Wow, was high school that long ago that I don’t even remember teachers names?  Sad.

Has anyone else out there heard of this sudden avoidence to semicolon?  Heaven help comma, because I would die if a limit was put on his use.  A day without commas is like a day without sunshine.

On July 5th, I’m starting two online writing courses.  One is on past life regression and using it to create cool characters.  The other is on plotting.  And, just to throw another wrench in the works, I’m applying to grad school.  So, I’m taking the Miller Analogies Test this month too.  Because, you know, I’ve really missed studying vocab and suffixes.  In the end, studying for the MAT makes me realize just how much crap I’ve forgotten.  It’s terrible to get old.

I think once these classes start, I’m going to repost a three part blog “series” (I use that term loosely) I wrote when I went to a writers conference last year.  It’s more of a study about how inept I am at maneuvering said conference than anything else, but still reasonably entertaining.  So, at least there’s that to look forward to…

Obsolete

No, I haven’t given up on Dvorak, quite the opposite in fact, I now no longer need the chart, I can type without looking at all. It’s taken me almost two months but now I’m quite good at touch typing  and much faster than I ever was on qwerty. Top speed: 43wpm and getting better all the time, now that I’ve got the technique right the sky’s the limit! Back on qwerty I struggled to get past 30wpm. It creeps up on you, at times you feel like your getting nowhere but then eventually you look back and realize that you’ve done it. In the end I really am very grateful to qwerty, without it learning Dvorak would have been much harder. Having all the keys incorrectly labeled is probably the best thing ever! The point where things need to change is where children begin to be taught how to type instead of how to write. At that point the world really needs to make the switch, I don’t even care if they do a study and find something better than Dvorak. Just as long as children are never again exposed to a layout which has a semicolon on the home row (I mean seriously a SEMICOLON!).

Next I really want to learn the piano. I’ve always wanted to, but never had the self disipline to put in the hours. I’ve always had this mentality that you have to start doing something like that when you’re five. Learning Dvorak has given me the confidence to start learning other new things.

The past day or two, at least among our followers, there has been a lot of buzz on Twitter about the use of punctuation – inside or outside the quotation marks.

First of all, what are “quotation marks”?

quotation mark. noun. one of the marks used to indicate the beginning and end of a quotation, in English usually shown as “ at the beginning and ” at the end.

 

Or, for a quotation within a quotation, of single marks of this kind, as “He said, ‘I will go.‘” 

Here’s some “scoop”:

QUOTATION MARKS – Quotation marks serve to indicate spoken dialog and to acknowledge specifically reproduced material.

a. Quotation marks are used to enclose direct quotations.

The supervisor said, “Come to my desk, young man.”

Note: Single quotation marks ( ‘  ‘ ) are used to enclose a quotation within a quotation.

The student asked, “Who popularized the statement ‘This is the best of all possible worlds’?”

b. Quotation marks should be used to enclose titles of short poems, stories, and articles that are usually printed as a part of a larger work.

She read “Ode on a Grecian Urn” from an anthology.

c. Quotation marks may be used to enclose a word used as a word (rather than for its meaning).

The word “school” brings back pleasant memories. And, do not overuse the word “and” in formal writing.

Now, let’s get to the more immediate question …

When other marks of punctuation are used with quotation marks, the following practices should be observed:

(1) A question mark or an exclamation point is placed inside the final quotation mark if it is part of the quotation, outside if it is part of the sentence that includes the quoted material.

(2) Commas and periods are always placed inside the closing quotation marks.

(3) Semicolons and colons are always placed outside the closing quotation marks.

Click here to download the complimentary pdf document of these rules.

Sources: dictionary.com; Webster’s New World Secretarial Handbook. New Rev. Ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1981.

To keep it fun, we must include the following:

Air quotes, also called fingerquotes or Ersatz quotes (pronounced /ˈɛrzæts/) refers to using one’s fingers to make virtual quotation marks in the air when speaking. This is typically done with both hands held shoulder-width apart and at the eye level of the speaker, with the index and middle fingers on each hand forming a V sign and then flexing at the beginning and end of the phrase being quoted. The air-quoted phrase is generally very short — a few words at most — in common usage, though sometimes much longer phrases may be used for comic effect.

While the term “air quotes” did not appear until 1989, use of similar gestures has been recorded as early as 1927. A single handed quote is an equivalent, though less dramatic variation. This became very popular since the 1990s.

Air quotes are often used to express satire, sarcasm, irony or euphemism. In print, scare quotes fill a similar purpose.

Source: Wikipedia

We also recommend visiting our friends over at The “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks.

Here we go again. (Punctuation Anyone?)

 To punctuate, or not to punctuate; that is the question. Or should it be; question?  When in doubt, leave it out?  How about? Read it the way I wrote it. Catch all those little inflections in my voice. Pause when I pause, ramble when I ramble. Short pause, long pause; longer pause,, even my grammar checker doesn’t like that one.

 So what’s with the title of this Blog? And should the word blog even be capitalized? Hmm, I’m not really sure, but again; my grammar checker seems to think so. It says it’s a noun, but is it a proper noun? It’s a thing, I think; so perhaps it deserves a Capitol B.

 However, and as usual; I’ve rambled on  ahead of myself. The reason I am writing this silly little blog, (should there be a comma after, blog (or Blog)? Or should it be after,) is? Is; again I recently read a Blog by someone who seemed to be very upset with the author’s of several articles she had read and they hadn’t used a comma where she thought they belonged. What was that I said a few line ago? When in doubt, leave it out, or just simply read it the way I wrote it.

 I know all the things we were taught about punctuating a sentence, I also know I don’t talk that way. Moreover, I don’t write that way. I write a story the way I would recite it. I take short pauses, long pauses; even longer pauses,, (I emphasize,) and  I ramble. Furthermore, as you can see; (LONG PAUSE) I love to ramble. Rambling affords me the opportunity to write on and on for sometimes an entire paragraph without taking the time to take a single breath. Try it, it’s fun to try and find just the right combination of words that allow you to write on without a single comma or semicolon. See; (or is that see,?) no comma needed. At least not for me.

 So don’t be upset with they way a particular writer, or author gets his point across, just read it the way they wrote it. (I say they instead of he so I don’t sound like a chauvinist.) That’s why they wrote it that way in the first place, for you to enjoy, not to grade. Sorry; it needed a comma there somewhere. (I only put it there out of fear of retribution from my peers.)

 J. Francis

Here we go again. (Punctuation Anyone?)

 To punctuate, or not to punctuate; that is the question. Or should it be; question?  When in doubt, leave it out?  How about? Read it the way I wrote it. Catch all those little inflections in my voice. Pause when I pause, ramble when I ramble. Short pause, long pause; longer pause,, even my grammar checker doesn’t like that one.

 So what’s with the title of this Blog? And should the word blog even be capitalized? Hmm, I’m not really sure, but again; my grammar checker seems to think so. It says it’s a noun, but is it a proper noun? It’s a thing, I think; so perhaps it deserves a Capitol B.

 However, and as usual; I’ve rambled on  ahead of myself. The reason I am writing this silly little blog, (should there be a comma after, blog (or Blog)? Or should it be after,) is? Is; again I recently read a Blog by someone who seemed to be very upset with the author’s of several articles she had read and they hadn’t used a comma where she thought they belonged. What was that I said a few line ago? When in doubt, leave it out, or just simply read it the way I wrote it.

 I know all the things we were taught about punctuating a sentence, I also know I don’t talk that way. Moreover, I don’t write that way. I write a story the way I would recite it. I take short pauses, long pauses; even longer pauses,, (I emphasize,) and  I ramble. Furthermore, as you can see; (LONG PAUSE) I love to ramble. Rambling affords me the opportunity to write on and on for sometimes an entire paragraph without taking the time to take a single breath. Try it, it’s fun to try and find just the right combination of words that allow you to write on without a single comma or semicolon. See; (or is that see,?) no comma needed. At least not for me.

 So don’t be upset with they way a particular writer, or author gets his point across, just read it the way they wrote it. (I say they instead of he so I don’t sound like a chauvinist.) That’s why they wrote it that way in the first place, for you to enjoy, not to grade. Sorry; it needed a comma there somewhere. (I only put it there out of fear of retribution from my peers.)

J. Francis