Semicolonic irrigation
A question often posed by writers is “When
should I use semicolons?” The short answer is, Never. Semicolons are most
commonly used, wrongly, to introduce lists, definitions and explanations, where
the writer should have used a colon. For example:
There are two exceptions to the rule never
to use a semicolon: one you must use and one you ought often to avoid if you
can.
The first use is simple enough but often
abused. In lists, we use a semicolon to separate elements that include commas.
You usually use a comma to separate the elements in a list: fish, chips, peas
and ketchup (add a comma before the “and” if you are American). But in more
complex lists, only a semicolon will do: fish, chips, peas and ketchup; curry
and rice; and bananas, apples and carrots. Here, using only commas would create
a nightmare of ambiguity, and we don’t want that. However, two things you
should avoid: don’t use semicolons when you can just use commas, that is, when
the items are not complex; don’t use them when you write your list in bullets
or numbered. The latter is common but these days we don’t bother with
punctuation in lists because it’s ugly.
The second use puts you in peril of one of
writing’s worst crimes: the comma splice. So take care. It’s to divide clauses
in a sentence where a comma would be too light. I used one in a sentence in the
previous paragraph, where the two clauses form a sort of list, but usually a
semicolon separates ideas that are in contrast or complement:
They go high; we go low.
I like her; she hates me.
Now these are at best borderline in today’s
English. Close to a comma splice, which is where independent clauses are
mistakenly joined with a comma, where you should have used a full stop. For
example:
I ran down the road, he saw me and waved.
Ugh.
Remember though that you can join clauses
with a comma when the first depends on the second. So this is fine:
When I ran down the road, he saw me and
waved.
If you want to get technical, you use a
comma because you fronted an adverbial phrase. We’ll talk more about fronting
phrases when we look at commas.
Don’t use a semicolon in that instance.
People do and it’s always wrong to. Don’t get confused with something like
this, which is perfectly fine:
He saw me three times: when I ran down the
road; when I swam in the river; when I jumped off the cliff.
You can add an “and” into the last element
if you like; in fact, this is one of the few instances when even someone who
eschews the Oxford
posted by Dr Zen @ 9:38 pm
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