Sep 23 2009

Clean Punctuation

Category: Friends — ChrisM @ 3:09 am

Calling Oleg… Calling Oleg. Are you still intending to be in Astana this October? We would love for you to meet Anna, and it would be great to see you again. What got me thinking about him today was my realization that my understanding of the correct situation to use a semi-colon really was pretty ropey; it isn’t that I haven’t a clue, simply that I often feel it is more like guess work than actual rules that I am following. I’ll probably not end up going on a tidy up of this blog, removing all the incorrect usages, nor is it likely that I’ll be going through old posts and inserting them where needed. Which reminds me, I’ve still got around 1400 posts here that need tagging. Shouldn’t take too long. LMAO.

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5 Responses to “Clean Punctuation”

  1. Alex C says:
    September 24th, 2009 3:28 am

    Hey Chris, Irina has that really cool little grammar book she showed me once and that has a full explanation of how to correctly use a semi-colon. I specifically remember the semi-colon chapter because it had always interested me and I read it all. Of course I can’t quote it now but from what I recall there were three instances of use:
    1. To separate a statement from an explanation, e.g. “I didn’t go to work today as I felt sick; I’d eaten too much mississipi mud cake the previous evening”.
    2. To separate multiple lists, e.g. “skirts, dresses and blouses; trousers, ties, shirts and blazers; socks, pants, bras and vests”.
    This isn’t the most technical of explanations and I forget the last instance of usage but that’s part of my understanding of it. Check out that book if you still have it in Kazakhstan and then correct my mistakes 🙂

  2. Oleg Frantsuzov says:
    September 27th, 2009 1:18 am

    End of October or beginning of November. And it’s quite deplorable that semicolon is all you associate me with! 🙂

  3. ChrisM says:
    September 28th, 2009 1:39 am

    @Alex – Eats shoots and leaves? I’ll check if she has it here, but I suspect it will not have made it over. Still in the attic in Clydach…

    @Oleg – I look forward to meeting again. At what point in my post do I infer that that semicolons are all I associate you with ;)?

  4. Oleg Frantsuzov says:
    September 28th, 2009 4:20 am

    My coworkers call me a Grammar Nazi. Well, okay (even though my Russian isn’t as good as it can be). But now you put my name in a post about semicolons. I’m scared. 😀

  5. ChrisM says:
    October 2nd, 2009 3:32 am

    OK, from now on, whenever I write about semicolons, I’ll make it clear that you are in no way to be associated with them. Any rumours based around you and punctuation should be viewed with suspicion, and that in fact, you never use any at all! 🙂