One of my British friends, while looking over one of my works, commented that I use semicolons quite a bit (it’s true; I do) and that he rarely encountered them in British work. I’m not sure whether semicolons are less common in British English overall or if that was just his experience, but I have heard people express confusion about semicolons many times, so I thought it would be worth a blog post, at least.
Thanks, Kyell. Good explanation. Have to say, I've found that the semicolon is dangerously easy to fall in love with: it's just such an elegant and flexible punctuation mark. These days I find myself editing semicolons *out* of my early drafts rather than putting them *in*, fearful they'll become just one more annoying mannerism.
Thanks, Kyell. Good explanation. Have to say, I've found that the semicolon is dangerously easy to fall in love with: it's just such an elegant and flexible punctuation mark. These days I find myself editing semicolons *out* of my early drafts rather than putting them *in*, fearful they'll become just one more annoying mannerism.