I have never once used a semicolon in written English except to troll a person with strong opinions about semicolon use.
I think comma splices are inching closer to acceptance in written English, and not just informal contexts, though not the super-formal ones either. I'll hunt for examples where it seems okay.
I forgot the phrase "comma splice" until 4. Exactly!
I was taught if one of the two clauses was short, use a comma. If both of the clauses are long, use two sentences. This has allowed me to save all my semicolons for use in SAS.
I still remember when I first started commenting here. I didn't know the difference between an em-dash and an en-dash and neb kept yelling at me until I stopped using hyphens to join any two nouns.
6 is very different than what I was taught! Which is that if it could be a standalone sentence, don't use a comma.
And I mostly remember Neb yelling at me for using a comma before parentheses.
I was a little taken aback, but he was emphatic.
He had good reason, (in my opinion).
I used up all of my semicolons in Pascal, and now look at me.
Which is that if it could be a standalone sentence, don't use a comma.
This is close to being the opposite of correct. There are always exceptions, but the basic rule is: two complete sentences joined with a conjunction get a comma.
We were forbidden from using conjunctions until we passed a safety test.
I mean, I've never heard someone use a semi-colon when they're speaking out loud.
Victor Borge erasure.
14: Did I say conjunction? DID I? ahem.
I've never heard someone use a semi-colon when they're speaking out loud.
By any chance is "thinking out loud " a phrase that makes sense for you? I definitely include long pauses when I talk, and defintely have a mode when I speak in written English. If someone asks me a question that has contingencies, what's natural to me is to think for many seconds before saying anything. I spent lots of years reading more English than speaking it.
Conjunction, junction. What's your function?
If I wrote like I speak there'd be a lot more ellipses and unclosed parentheses.
If you don't close parentheses, your thoughts don't compile.
Which is that if it could be a standalone sentence, don't use a comma.
This is close to being the opposite of correct. There are always exceptions, but the basic rule is: two complete sentences joined with a conjunction get a comma.
Doesn't this latter rule have different results depending on your acceptance of starting sentences with conjunctions?
And why can't you start a sentence with a conjunction?
By any chance is "thinking out loud " a phrase that makes sense for you?
Yes, definitely.
Also, fwiw the quoted sentence was intended with a wink.
22: I wouldn't think so. Among decent people, starting a sentence with a conjunction is frowned upon, but if your loose standards permit the practice, that should have no impact on your use of commas in other situations.
I recently gave a job recommendation for someone and mentioned, offhand and semi-jokingly, that he struggled with the proper use of commas. It's true, but in retrospect I feel bad about saying it. They really should hire him, and when I call references, people uniformly provide me with dishonest, unvarnished praise.
You need to use Oxford commas. "...dishonest, unvarnished, praise."
I think most sentences could benefit from some more commas, to visually identify divisions in the sentence structure.
actually I think the majority of nonfictional writing should be in the form of outlines, not paragraphs.
In a world where the youngs think that ending a sentence with a period is too aggressive, you realize you're a dinosaur and stop having opinions about punctuation.
In the police undercover training, they have to work for weeks to get the new agents to text "Hello fellow young person I would like to purchase one weed" with no punctuation marks.
33:
As soon as the valour and conduct of Julian had secured an interval of peace, he applied himself to a work more congenial to his humane and philosophic temper. The cities of Gaul, which had suffered from the inroads of the barbarians, he diligently repaired; and seven important posts, between Mentz and the mouth of the Rhine, are particularly mentioned as having been rebuilt and fortified by the order of Julian. (86) The vanquished Germans had submitted to the just but humiliating condition of preparing and conveying the necessary materials. The active zeal of Julian urged the prosecution of the work; and such was the spirit which he had diffused among the troops, that the auxiliaries themselves, waiving their exemption from any duties of fatigue, contended in the most servile labours with the diligence of the Roman soldiers. It was incumbent on the Caesar to provide for the subsistence as well as for the safety of the inhabitants and of the garrisons. The desertion of the former, and the mutiny of the latter, must have been the fatal and inevitable consequences of famine. The tillage of the provinces of Gaul had been interrupted by the calamities of war; but the scanty harvests of the continent were supplied, by his paternal care, from the plenty of the adjacent island. Six hundred large barques, framed in the forest of the Ardennes, made several voyages to the coast of Britain; and returning from thence, laden with corn, sailed up the Rhine, and distributed their cargoes to the several towns and fortresses along the banks of the river. (87) The arms of Julian had restored a free and secure navigation, which Constantius had offered to purchase at the expense of his dignity, and of a tributary present of two thousand pounds of silver. The emperor parsimoniously refused to his soldiers the sums which he granted with a lavish and trembling hand to the barbarians. The dexterity, as well as the firmness of Julian, was put to a severe trial, when he took the field with a discontented army, which had already served two campaigns without receiving any regular pay or any extraordinary donative.
actually I think the majority of nonfictional writing should be in the form of outlines, not paragraphs.
I totally think this, too. Or that the form should be based on what best conveys that particular nuance or structure, or whatever. (Here's a quiz to determine which kind of geographic subterranean level of the Texas plains you are!)
Also lmk if anyone got earwormed by the OP title! Fingers crossed.
nope but it's possible you're thinking of the right song and just have the artist wrong?
You're off by roughly 10 years though.
Salary isnt everything and his existing letters predate the use of punctuation.
I thought the punctuation emoji (like :P for explicit irony) had potential. The core problem with texts is volume and attention-- it's possible to think about what you're writing and reading enough to make punctuation and capitals natural, but some texts really are "eta 10 min" or addressing a group about how sick the-place-someone-suggested's kitchen made me last time or whatever.
Honestly, I shouldn't micromanage your earworms. You're an adult; you can get a Black Eyed Peas earworm if that's what you think is best.
I have the worst sort of common taste in music.
2 music remarks, neither from the post title:
I. TLC
a) great harmonies
b) the funk riffs that back them up are quite good
1. legacy of personnel responsible-- more hidden gems in previous work?
2. nice blend of analog and digital
II. Van Morrison
a) used to be pleasant
b) song titles of his last two albums are something else
Seriously, this is a format? Outline fans, maybe go leverage your externalities into the shitty bullet point lists you already know are this ideas fate.
Don't go chasing waterfalls. Stick to the brown-eyed girl that you know.
the majority of nonfictional writing should be in the form of outlines, not paragraphs
I think pi should be 3 and the hypotenuse should be equal to the length of the two other sides; but we'll never get anywhere on that with Joe Manchin blocking filibuster reform.
As the largest angle in the trafficked triangle approaches 180°, the length of the hypotenuse approaches the sum of the lengths of the other two sides.
Wait, who's trafficking triangles now?
Punctuation marks seem to be appearing less and less often than they did in the 19th century.
If it wasn't for the Oxford comma, the whole English language would have already come crashing down.
46: no, in that situation it's not copacetic with what you're trying to communicate. Free your mind, and the rest will follow.
It was the Pharcyde song, Runnin'. (Run on, run on, run on, can't keep running away...)
58: I was feeling bad that we are unworthy of you, because we haven't read the right novels or listened to the right music, but I just listened to this song, and I don't think think anyone ever says "Run on" in this song -- I think they are saying "Runnin" -- the title of the song.
DA DOO RUN ON ON, DA DOO RUN ON.
59: I didn't want to guilt trip the collective readership, but I have been feeling lately like you all have really failed to duplicate my 1990s life. Little papercuts, y'know?
Also, I'm pretty sure I'm aware of all earworm traditions, and near-words are permitted, nay, encouraged.
I somehow missed hearing them. Or did and forgot.
OT: This works because possums can't get rabies.
The weird thing about that is that we don't actually have possums in Alaska.
There's no mammal easier to pick up than a possum.
65: I'll see if we have extra behind the house. But I need to keep enough to eat the ticks.
66: Also very easy to catch in a live trap.
OT: I knew I was in for an awful couple of days with work and personal responsibilities, so when the doctor asked if I wanted to get my second shingles vaccine, I said "sure" because I knew I was going to have a bad day today regardless. This turns out to be really shitty reasoning.