
Semicolons; So Tricky - shawndumas
http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/07/how-to-use-semicolons.html
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coroxout
I thought this was going to be yet another piece on the Javascript debate
(perhaps a little unlikely from the New Yorker, but who knows?), instead of
about punctuation in English.

Many here may be disappointed that it was the latter, but personally I found
this a refreshing surprise. I've always liked semicolons but been a little
afraid I may not be using them right.

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j0hnj0hn
I usually just put them at the end of sentences;

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pasbesoin
Didn't read the article, but I think of them -- in English prose -- as being
used to separate clauses that can stand (grammatically) as independent
sentences, but which you choose to bind somewhat more closely together (by use
of the semicolon) to identify a closer association within the broader
hierarchy of its context. Often, and perhaps preferentially, the one clause
leads -- logically, chronologically, etc. -- to the next.

A separate use is to separate list members when those individual members
include sublists, subclauses, or other items that in turm use/include commas.

Once you move beyond prose -- poetry, code, etc. -- the "rules" loosen or
change, requiring separate consideration of those contexts.

And of course, these latter uses can bleed back into prose; language is always
transforming -- some would say, evolving.

