/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10414669]

Is anyone here dumb like me and doesn't know when to use a semi-colon?

[Anonymous No.10414671]

>>10414669
no one does, that's what makes it such an interesting object of the artist.

[Anonymous No.10414684]

; = 'that is to say'

I am cold in heart and body; lonely in winter.

[Anonymous No.10414691]

Is anyone here dumb like me; doesn't know when to use a semi-colon

[Anonymous No.10414700]

>>10414669
At the end of the sentence, faggot;

[Anonymous No.10414718]

I don't either; OP

[Anonymous No.10414724]

>>10414671
>This is what brainlets actually think

[Anonymous No.10414733]

>>10414724
t. prescriptive grammar faggot

[Anonymous No.10414738]

Never use a semi-colon.

[Anonymous No.10414762]

>>10414669
Whenever you could use a dot—yet continue the "topic" in the next sentence; also whenever you're not sure whether you should use colon, or a comma; you could use a dot before the most recent "you", but why would you use dots within a paragraph—absolutely terrible.

[Anonymous No.10414779]

I couldn't tell you how to use one but apparently I use them correctly.

[Anonymous No.10414781]

>>10414738
Between two sentences (you) want yoked more tightly together. The boy was in a rush; the girl was thinking of that scene in Suddenly Last Summer when etc.

[Anonymous No.10414782]

internet made everyone retarded

[Anonymous No.10414791]

You use a semicolon between two independent clauses when not using a conjunction. It isn't that hard to learn; you just have to practice.

[Anonymous No.10414823]

>>10414781
>That sentence

Just, why?

[Anonymous No.10414874]

>>10414669
is this right?
the virgin was dismayed; no one had replied to his bait

[Anonymous No.10414882]

>>10414874
After reading this I realized it may imply that I think OP is baiting, just to clarify that's not what I want

[Anonymous No.10414885]

>>10414791

Wouldn't a colon be more appropriate there?

[Anonymous No.10414891]

>>10414885
No

[Anonymous No.10414906]

it seperates two sentences

[Anonymous No.10414913]

>>10414669
Not many people do; I love cocks

[Anonymous No.10414927]

>>10414669
The semi-colon is used to separate two clauses that could stand on their own but are related and sound better under a single period.

Use it however the fuck you want really. I read once (don't remember where) that you use it to explain the "why" of the statement that came before it. This isn't exactly correct, but I used it that way for a few years.

>>10414791
Best example.

>>10414885
No fucktard. A colon in a sentence should be followed by a list. Or it can be used to add gravity to a single article before a period.

[Anonymous No.10414936]

>>10414927
>Or it can be used to add gravity to a single article before a period.
what are you talking about: the.

[Anonymous No.10414946]

>>10414669

The only thing I know about the semi-colon is that it offends people I hate to use it incorrectly; not that I know what constitutes a correct and incorrect use; and therefore I use it as often as possible; that is to say, whenever it seems conventionally suitable according to some convention, rather than just whenever it seems actually appropriate; but I'm kind of a douche.

[Anonymous No.10414953]

>>10414936
You are just that: a retard.

[Anonymous No.10414993]

>>10414762
>tfw nobody admires your glorious syntax

[Anonymous No.10415011]

>>10414993
>glorious
Here's your (You).

[Anonymous No.10415049]

>>10414823
I don't know; I don't know; I don't know.

[Anonymous No.10415077]

>>10415011

[Anonymous No.10415096]

>>10414684
That's really helpful.

[Anonymous No.10415585]

You use it when you aren't sure whether or not to use a period or a comma; That is why it has a period and a comma in it.

[Anonymous No.10415600]

Semicolons; I like them

[Anonymous No.10415619]

>>10415600
Semicolons. I; like them.

[Anonymous No.10415623]

>>10414669

>not using a carefully arranged assortment of em-dashes, parentheses, semi-colons and colons to make whole paragraphs without the need for extraneous periods

Come on m8s

[Anonymous No.10415628]

I don't think many people do; however, there are exceptions here and there.

[Anonymous No.10415633]

>>10415628
Don't need however in that sentence

[Anonymous No.10415645]

>>10415619
Them semicolons; I like

[Anonymous No.10415657]

>mfw I have used 34 semicolons in the first 25k words of my novel

[Anonymous No.10415675]

>>10415657
that's one semicolon every ~700 words which is relatively low

[Anonymous No.10415737]

>>10414669
You do know when to use a semicolon, OP; what neither one of us knows is why you bothered to make this thread.

[Anonymous No.10415814]

>>10415633
>>10415628
I don't think many people do—however; there are exceptions here and there.

[Anonymous No.10415823]

I like em dashes. Those never get used as much since nobody remembers the keyboard shortcut for them.

[Anonymous No.10415926]

>>10415645
Like them; I semicolons

[Anonymous No.10415940]

>>10415814
nope
nosedived that sentence straight into the ground

[Anonymous No.10416003]

>>10414684
Is this real?
I'm stupid; actually quite smart now that I know how to use the semi-colon.

[Anonymous No.10416651]

>>10414669
The traditional instruction is that the semi-colon separates two independent clauses. Its function differs from the period only in discourse effect, implying less separation between thoughts (and so possibly a closer causal connection between them, or whatever it might be).

>John was here a few minutes ago; I didn't see him.
>John was here a few minutes ago. I didn't see him.

In both examples, neither clause is subordinated, and each can serve as an independent / matrix sentence standing alone.

[Anonymous No.10416657]

>>10415814
This is wrong, since 'however' doesn't constitute a clause. Parentheticals, hedges, qualifiers, etc., are followed by commas.

[Anonymous No.10416700]

>>10416003
It still has to be a complete sentence on both sides of the semi-colon. Well, I suppose it doesn't HAVE to, but there's little reason to use a semi-colon if you're just going to break its only purpose. I suppose what the poster meant is that a semi-colon is supposed to combine two sentences that have something in common instead of just breaking them off with a period