+511 It's kinda sad that 98% of the population can only correctly use a semicolon if they're trying to digitally wink at somebody. amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I think you've just made up that statistic; it seems inaccurate to me. ;) (I can use it correctly both ways. Go me!)

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That's not the way you're supposed to use it, you could just as easily use a comma. Here's how you would use it: Arthur is a family-friendly cartoon about different anthropomorphic animals: Arthur, an average aardvark; Binky, a bullying bulldog; and Muffy, a spoiled little bitch. The semicolon makes it obvious that Arthur is the average aardvark, if you just used commas through the whole thing it might seems like they were two different people.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That is one way to use a semicolon; however, it is not the only one. Semicolons can be used to connect two sentences that are closely related and could be thought of as one idea: Brenda is so tall; she has problems finding jeans that are long enough. They can also be used in comparisons: Jade wears red every day; her twin Johnny hates red. Also, if _monkeyz was to use a comma instead of a semicolon (without adding a conjunction) that would make it a comma splice. She was correct in her usage. I think her sentence could fit into the first category of semicolon usage I talked about. I'm sure there are even more ways to use it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Oops. My mistake.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

And that statistic came from where?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Here come the Grammar Nazis; fighting the fight of their internet life: the Semicolon, and its usage.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm a Grammar Nazi, I'll admit it. However, I won't place an argument here; I think both DaisyChain and Jojo17 just summed up the entire definition.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm glad somebody is thinking of me....

by Anonymous 12 years ago