•  Gnome Kat   ( @GnomeKat@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 
    20•6 months ago

    My 2c is that if the majority of people are confused about the purpose of a punctuation mark or language feature in general, then that feature is not actually fulfilling a useful function. If it was actually useful then people wouldn’t be confused, they would just be using it. People would learn it organically and not need it to be explained.

    That example sentence would function exactly the same if it was separated by a period, nothing is gained by using a semicolon. No new information is added, you are just going to make people wonder why there is a semicolon there making the sentence less comprehensible.

    Its sorta related to the prescriptivism vs descriptivism distinction.

    •  LogarithmicCamel   ( @LogarithmicCamel@feddit.uk ) 
      14•6 months ago

      That example sentence would function exactly the same if it was separated by a period; nothing is gained by using a semicolon. No new information is added; you are just going to make people wonder why there is a semicolon there making the sentence less comprehensible.

      FTFY. You aren’t supposed to separate two independent clauses with a comma.

    •  CreateProblems   ( @CreateProblems@corndog.social ) English
      2•6 months ago

      So you also use a semicolon if you are separating a list and the list includes phrases separated by commas. For example:

      My favorite things are lions, tigers, and bears; sugar, spice, and everything nice; and the ol’ red, white, and blue.

      I came up with that in thirty seconds so admittedly it’s a bit nonsensical, but there are valid reasons to structure a sentence this way and a semicolon is the only thing helping those independent phrases stay separate and thus help the sentence make sense.

      That said, I love semicolons in general; I use them for fun and for variety. They are useful for slightly adjusting the pacing of written communication, since the reader won’t treat them exactly the same as a full stop.

      If it was actually useful… People would learn it organically and not need it to be explained.

      People don’t learn how to read “organically;” you need instruction. Learning how to use punctuation is a part of that instruction. You learned how to use a comma or a period way back in elementary school, you just don’t remember specifically learning it. And a semicolon is a perfectly useful piece of punctuation.

  •  Solinus 🌿   ( @solinus@lemmy.cafe ) English
    9•6 months ago

    em dash supremacy—my friend introduced me to this and i haven’t looked back since.

    alt+0151 on PC, ctrl+alt+minus for word if I remember right. On mobile you go to more symbols, hold down the minus, and slide to the longest one.

    Both require numeric keypad though- but using a minus and a space after can work as a substitute--as well as 2 minus signs (plus Lemmy happens to convert that to an em dash) - but like THAT? treason. absolutely not.

    You can even join more than 2 independent clauses together as shown above.

  •  Malle_Yeno   ( @malle_yeno@pawb.social ) 
    8•6 months ago

    They’re also useful for separating multiple lists when using a comma would make it look like an item is an extended list.

    So let’s say I want to express:

    "My contacts are:

    • Jessica, Cook (as in a job title, not a name)

    • James, MD (as in the professional certification, not the name ‘MD’)

    • Doug, ABC (maybe to show that Doug works at ABC)"

    If I said:

    “My contacts are Jessica, Cook, James, MD, Doug, ABC.”

    There’s no clear indication of what is a list member and what is a new list. But this:

    “My contacts are Jessica, Cook; James, MD; Doug, ABC.”

    is a bit clearer. (There are probably better examples but I’m shooting from the hip here lol)