The Mechanics

Good morning one and all.

Today is mechanics day and I am going to talk about the semicolon.

Honestly, it isn't a punctuation mark I use very often. It's a pause in strength somewhere between a comma and a colon, but despite its lack of popularity it does have its uses.

Semicolons can join words, word groups and sentences; separate word groups already containing commas (such as this sentence); restore order to sentences suffering from over-comma use and provide pauses before certain adverbs.

I want to talk about a couple examples Graham King uses in his Good Grammar book. I actually don't agree with the first one.

Here's the first example, "It was a beautiful car, moreover it was economical to run." Graham thinks it should be a semicolon not a comma, "It was a beautiful car; moreover it was economical to run."

He argues that you can hear the need for a more substantial pause than a comma can provide. Hmmm...'hear the need'? I don't agree in this sentence. They are only talking about a car.

If the sentence read, "It was a concise victory; moreover it was an end to the violence," then I could see the need for a stronger punctuation mark. Of course, in this instance Graham would probably suggest a colon so...I will agree to disagree.

I do agree with his second example, however, "Joe claimed he'd beaten the bookies on every race; nevertheless he was broke as usual when he left the track." I think I find the semicolon more useful here because the sentence contains more information. I wouldn't use a comma or a colon here.

I understand why George Orwell said semicolons can raise your blood pressure. Apparently in his book Coming Up for Air he didn't use a single semicolon. I understand why. I don't use them in my poetry or my fiction. I do use them in technical documents for lists and to put in a stronger pause than a comma will provide.

But as a punctuation mark I would only give it a 5 out of 10 for its usefulness. Aside from lists I think we could really do without it.