Attack of the Killer Semicolons
"The main reason people use [the semicolon], however, is that they know you can't use it wrongly -- which, for a punctuation mark, is an uncommon virtue" (Truss 122).
Wait. I'm confused.
In my English classes in high school (where I was taught some grammar), I was taught that there are only certain places to use a semicolon, so that would lead me to believe that you can in fact use it incorrectly. Why would someone say that you can't use it wrongly? Sooner or later people are going to just throw in semicolons randomly because they are under the assumption that they can do no wrong with them. I'm going to get papers in my classes that are filled with misused semicolons and I'm going to end up bald from pulling out my hair.
Maybe it's time to set everyone right? Maybe?
Wait. I'm confused.
In my English classes in high school (where I was taught some grammar), I was taught that there are only certain places to use a semicolon, so that would lead me to believe that you can in fact use it incorrectly. Why would someone say that you can't use it wrongly? Sooner or later people are going to just throw in semicolons randomly because they are under the assumption that they can do no wrong with them. I'm going to get papers in my classes that are filled with misused semicolons and I'm going to end up bald from pulling out my hair.
Maybe it's time to set everyone right? Maybe?
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