Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blurgalurgalurga]

Interesting article here from Slate about the death of the semi-colon in the modern world.
http://www.slate.com/id/2194087/

I always liked semi-colons, and use them a lot; however, I sometimes wonder if I have remembered my lessons correctly, and whether I should in fact be using a colon instead.

Here's a question for the grammarians: if a student asks you what the difference is between a colon and a semi-colon, what do you tell them? Explain in 50 words or less, please.

Also: is this correct?

"He was a complete monkey: he hurled his feces; he loved bananas; he smelled of the jungle; and, most tellingly, his name was George."

[Kimchi Cowboy]

I was always taught to use a capital immediately following a full colon.

Also, at the end of a series, you don't need a semi colon between the second-to-last item and the last item (in your example, I would use a comma between "jungle" and "and".)

But, the rules on this sort of thing tend to differ from place-to-place, as well as from *cough* expert-to-expert. I see nothing egregiously wrong with what you've written; however, I would do it slightly differently.

[SirFink]

I was taught to mainly use them in lists that had commas to make the sentence less confusing to the reader, i.e. "I have lived in Seoul, Korea; Tokyo, Japan; and Beijing, China."

Like nearly everything in English (or any other language, for that matter) everything is constantly changing and evolving. There is no pope of English to hand down the official law on what a semicolon should be used for. If the semicolon dies off, so be it. It had a good run of a few hundred years and will now be replaced with all that "txt msg" crap the kids write these days.

[friendoken]

I have been called on this by my professor's a few times; I find the proper usage of these punctuation marks difficult to grasp.

I think a semi-colon separates two independant clauses that comprise one sentence, each capable of standing on its own as a grammatically correct sentence.

I am going to travel soon. I plan on visiting: Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

I think a colon marks the beginning of a list of items.

Check out Strunk and White "The Elements of Style"

[blurgalurgalurga]

I thought you could put what was otherwise a sentence fragment after a semi-colon; this, for example.

I wish I had a copy of Sprunk and White's...I sold mine after I graduated. Suppose I should get a freshie...

[Stevie_B]

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

[friendoken]

[nobbyken]

I always use a colon where the next statement is an explanation of the previous sentence. The other time I use it is at the end of a statement announcing a list is to follow.

The semi-colon being heavier than a coma and used to link sentences which are very close in meaning.

A-Z of English Grammar & Usage, Geoffrey Leech ...

[jajdude]

[blurgalurgalurga]

"Heavier than a coma;" wasn't that a Curt Cobain lyric?

[billybrobby]

The semi-colon is the salad fork of conjunctions. It doesn't do much that the more common utensils can't do, and only fancy people use them.

[thematrixiam]

I use it for a mixed variety of things.

To separate two statements; but they really don't want to be apart.

When I think, that for dramatic purposes, a comma just wouldn't cut it; because it offers a heavier stop.

I know there are instances when I would use it that it typically wouldn't be accepted as norm, but I use it anyways... I think that has to do with me being a writer and not giving a damn. I get to the point where I just like messing with shit and seeing how it looks.

I can't really give you an example of that; as it usually just comes as I write it; but that shouldn't really matter; I'm sure you guys can just guess and figure it out on your own.


Of course you can use it for a list of things to put in a list, such as: groceries;
sex toys; pizza condiments; preferred laxatives, and favorite Gumby episodes.

[billybrobby]

Another unique snowflake who asks the teacher, "Why can't I color the sky green?"

[thematrixiam]