An e-mail exchange from April 2000 with the editor of the Chicago Manual of Style.
Q: MLA 5.32 says that if coordinate clauses contain commas, semicolons may be used in lieu of customary commas for separation of the clauses. Likewise for clarity, as I was taught in high school, aren’t semicolons permissible when the clauses are simply lengthy? Such clauses do not necessarily contain commas of their own.
A: Yes. As we say in 5.93, “If the clauses of a compound sentence are very long . . . a semi-colon may be used.”
Semicolons vs. Commas
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thanks for this Johnathan. Semicolons are very useful for long lists as well, and I've been trying to encourage my students to use them more often. I built this guide to using the semicolon and colon. Any feedback would be appreciated.
ReplyDelete