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Semicolons: How do you feel about them?
Feb. 21st, 2008 10:10 amAnyone who's suffered through one of my fics (long sentences, mostly punctuated with hyphens and commas, because I do tend to run on) or a beta from me (lots of strike-outs), might be aware of the fact that I hate the semicolon.
To be more precise, I prefer to confine its use to more formal writing. In short stories and fic, I avoid it with a passion that is otherwise reserved for adverbs.
This article from the New York Times is slowly steeping its way through the sleep-deprived, decaffeinated haze that is my brain right now, and I'm reconsidering the semicolon. There may be a time and place for it ... somewhere between caffeine and ethanol, I suppose.
As quoted in the article: “When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life,” Kurt Vonnegut once said. “Old age is more like a semicolon.”
What do you think?
To be more precise, I prefer to confine its use to more formal writing. In short stories and fic, I avoid it with a passion that is otherwise reserved for adverbs.
This article from the New York Times is slowly steeping its way through the sleep-deprived, decaffeinated haze that is my brain right now, and I'm reconsidering the semicolon. There may be a time and place for it ... somewhere between caffeine and ethanol, I suppose.
As quoted in the article: “When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life,” Kurt Vonnegut once said. “Old age is more like a semicolon.”
What do you think?
