KauaiRobert, Stan and Neal — my faithful readers. This is not a sports blog, so please be warned. It is about the semicolon. It really is. Turn back now if you are not interested.

This topic has been on my mind the last two days — why I don’t like the semicolon and why I almost never use it.

I’m not good at grammar, but to the best of my ability I don’t see what the semicolon accomplishes. I believe the period does everything the semicolon does, and that makes the semicolon redundant.

“The Elements of Style” is the great book about English usage and it has a section on the semicolon, which it seems to like. It gives this example of how to use the semicolon: “Stevenson’s romances are entertaining; they are all full of exciting adventures.”

The book gives other similar examples and then goes on to say: “It is, of course, equally correct to write each of these as two sentences, replacing the semicolons with  periods.”

In other words, a period can do everything its little cousin the semicolon can do. I prefer to write with periods. They make the ends of my sentences more definite and, in a way, stark. I don’t like the lingering effect of the semicolon. Who wants to be known as semi anything?

When I want a sentence to go on, I use a dash. I like a dash and use it all the time. It’s a little unconventional and it seems to say, “Come along with me. The trip is worth it.”

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