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[robinturner]

There are a number of reasons why I like to use semi-colons. The first is simply that they are easier to find on the keyboard than many other punctuation marks. The QWERTY keyboard was designed in days when the semi-colon was more common than it is now, so there it sits next to the carriage return, almost inviting you to hit it, while more common signs of our times, like "@" or "~" require some thought.

It is also, despite its current lack of popularity, a rather useful piece of punctuation. Not as useful, perhaps, as the ubiquitous comma or the unequivocal full stop, but still more serviceable than, say, the back tick (which is used mainly in programming languages where unreadability is considered a virtue). I like it because I can suggest that there is some relationship between two clauses without having to spell it out. As Lynne Truss points out in Eats, Shoots and Leaves, it says "Now this is a hint. The elements of this sentence, although grammatically distinct, are actually elements of a single notion. I can make it plainer for you - but hey! You're a reader! I don't need to draw you a map!" In addition, as Truss also mentions, it can serve as "a kind of Special Policeman in the event of comma fights." I'll leave you to visualise a comma fight.

Typographically, the semi-colon performs a valuable function in bringing some kind of syntactic order to that two-edged sword of typesetting, the list. Whether numbered or bulletted, lists have become more and more common. This is due partly to the effects of a business culture which is obsessed with items (or even "action items"); however, I suspect that increasing competence with word processors is also a factor. People have learnt what those little buttons do, so they feel obliged to use them. Now I have nothing against lists as such, and frequently use them myself; the problem comes when a sentence runs off into a list and gets lost. Placing a colon before the list and semi-colon at the end of each item goes a long way toward ensuring that the thing will eventually parse as some kind of sentence.

This relates to another reason I have for looking fondly upon the semi-colon, which is that it is a mark of a serious programming language. Baby languages like BASIC and quick hacking tools like bash allow a line break to indicate the end of a command; real languages like C or Perl insist on a semi-colon (in fact, if you put a semi-colon at the end of each line of a bash script, chances are you'll end up with a C program). OK, I realise that I'm going to start pissing off Python developers, so I won't pursue this subject any further.

Finally, I have to admit that I like the intellectual snobbery of semi-colons. They show a confidence in your syntax, not least because (again pace Lynne Truss) you can get them horribly wrong. Of course, you can use any piece of punctuation incorrectly, but there is something particularly humiliating about being caught abusing a semi-colon. It implies not only lack of knowledge, but also pretension, rather like using "whom" where "who" is required. A semi-colon is a typographical dare.

Comments

[tristan-moore.livejournal.com]

So , why do you think semi-colons are not used more often these days?

My english teacher in high school had a bias against semi-colons for some reason. I had her for freshman through senior year because she was the only AP teacher for English. As a direct result, am semi-colon defunct. Maybe if I didn't take honors English I would have employed an instructor with less of a bias. I still don't understand the bias. Her excuse is that it corrupted the smooth flow of sentences.

[solri.livejournal.com]

I can see that a semi-colon could have a bad effect on flow when used as a comma-substitute in lists, but not when used to join clauses; if anything, I would have expected the opposite.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

bravo. No quibbles here. It's sort of a gourmet punctuation review.

But you neglected to mention the semicolon's use in the "winky face"!

/me flees

[solri.livejournal.com]

I have ambivalent feelings about emoticons, but I have to confess to using the winky face a lot, particularly in posts to e-mail lists, where there aren't enough common stylistic conventions for readers to tell reliably whether I am being serious.

[hfx-ben.livejournal.com]

"It is also, despite its current lack of popularity, a rather useful piece of punctuation."
Hear, hear!!

"I like it because I can suggest that there is some relationship between two clauses without having to spell it out."
Just so ... in contradiction of the "disturbs the flow of the sentence" objection ... though the peculiar use of "..." you see here is fun in a way semi-colon isn't!

"A semicolon compounds two independent clauses without a conjunction." captures my sense of it.

BTW, I found "Dissolving Writer's Block while rummaging through grammar sites just now; likewise LitJournal.com

[regyt.livejournal.com]

Quite right. I'm a huge fan of the semicolon. I've had professors say that they usually ask students to avoid its use altogether, but when someone actually uses it properly if makes them glee inside.

[solri.livejournal.com]

I tell my students not to use the semi-colon unless they are absolutely sure they are using it correctly, but that is because my students are Turkish, and semi-colons are used differently in Turkish.