Author Topic: Commas and semi-colons  (Read 11504 times)

Miss Mae

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 479
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • Email
Commas and semi-colons
« on: July 08, 2012, 03:15:28 PM »
Can you please clarify the following 'rule' prescribed in Merriam-Webster's Guide to Punctuation and Style (Second Edition)?

Commas are used to separate short and obviously parallel main clauses that are not joined by conjunctions.

The paragraph right after it adds that clauses not joined by conjunctions are normally separated by semi-colons.

Joe Carillo

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4646
  • Karma: +202/-2
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Commas and semi-colons
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2012, 07:44:55 AM »
I think the punctuation rules you cited can best be explained by examples.

Rule 1: Commas are used to separate short and obviously parallel main clauses that are not joined by conjunctions.

Example 1: “To err is human, to forgive is divine.”
Joined by conjunction: “To err is human and to forgive is divine.”

Example 3: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
Joined by conjunctions: “I came and I saw and I conquered.”

Note that the clauses in the above examples are short and simple and are constructed in parallel.

Rule 2: Clauses not joined by conjunctions are normally separated by semi-colons.

Example 1: “We arrived exactly at noon as agreed upon yesterday; they arrived over an hour late.”
With conjunction: “We arrived exactly at noon as agreed upon yesterday but they arrived over an hour late.”

Example 2: “We are regular paying members of this club; those boisterous and highly demanding guys are just guests.”
With conjunction: “We are regular paying members of this club while those boisterous and highly demanding guys are just guests.”

Note that the sense of the sentences in Example 1 and Example 2 tends to get confusing when the clauses are punctuated only by a comma:

Example 1 punctuated by a comma: “We arrived exactly at noon as agreed upon yesterday, they arrived over an hour late.”

Example 2 punctuated by a comma: “We are regular paying members of this club, those boisterous and highly demanding guys are just guests.”

What the two punctuation rules you cited are telling us is that stylistically, the length and complexity of the parallel clauses determine the appropriate punctuation mark between them. When the clauses are relatively short and simple, the comma will usually be adequate to punctuate them. When the clauses are long and complex, however, the comma can no longer provide adequate punctuation. The semicolon, which provides a stronger punctuation, must be used instead for clarity’s sake.

Miss Mae

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 479
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Commas and semi-colons
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2012, 01:29:45 PM »
Thank you, Sir.

Mwita Chacha

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 137
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Commas and semi-colons
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2012, 08:11:27 AM »
Comma is cleary called for before conjuction 'but' in an example sentence that clarifies rule 2, is it not?

Joe Carillo

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4646
  • Karma: +202/-2
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Commas and semi-colons
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2012, 06:35:18 PM »
You contended that a comma is clearly called before the conjunction “but” in the following sentence:

“We arrived exactly at noon as agreed upon yesterday but they arrived over an hour late.”

Following that contention, that sentence should be reconstructed as follows:

“We arrived exactly at noon as agreed upon yesterday, but they arrived over an hour late.”

This is indeed the formal, general rule for linking two independent clauses, but in my own experience, it is largely ignored when the two independent clauses are not only short and uncomplicated but also balanced in construction. This is precisely why I didn’t use the comma in this sentence that I used to clarify Rule 2 in my previous posting, as follows:

“We arrived exactly at noon as agreed upon yesterday but they arrived over an hour late.”

See how using the comma looks more and more uncalled for—and I must say overly fastidious—as the balanced, independent clauses get shorter:

“We arrived exactly at noon but they arrived over an hour late.”
Compare with a comma before “but”: “We arrived exactly at noon, but they arrived over an hour late.”

“We arrived at noon but they arrived late.”
Compare with a comma before “but”: “We arrived at noon, but they arrived late.”

“We arrived on time but they arrived late.”
Compare with a comma before “but”: “We arrived on time, but they arrived late.”

“We were on time but they were late.”
Compare with a comma before “but”: “We were on time, but they were late.”

It’s an entirely different matter, of course, when the independent clauses are long and complicated and when they are not balanced in their structure. This time, the comma before the “but” (and before the other coordinating conjunctions for that matter) becomes absolutely mandatory for clarity’s sake.

Try making sense of the following sentence with long, unbalanced independent clauses:

“We arrived at the airport on time after having to replace a nasty flat tire along the way for almost 20 minutes but our companions in another car that left 30 minutes earlier never made to the airport because they made a wrong exit at the expressway and got hopelessly lost.”

Now see how the sentence reads much more easily and clearly with a comma before the coordinating conjunction “but”:

“We arrived at the airport on time after having to replace a nasty flat tire along the way for almost 20 minutes, but our companions in another car that left 30 minutes earlier never made it to the airport because they made a wrong exit at the expressway and got hopelessly lost.”

Mwita Chacha

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 137
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Commas and semi-colons
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2012, 07:34:37 PM »
Point taken!

Mwita Chacha

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 137
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Commas and semi-colons
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2012, 07:34:47 PM »
Point taken!

Ashley.Adams

  • Initiate
  • *
  • Posts: 2
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Commas and semi-colons
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2012, 05:28:35 PM »
example of a semi colon. He designed glass floors; many objected.