Punctuation: Semicolon

Punctuation: Semicolon

From Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press:

A semicolon is used to mark the division of a sentence somewhat more independent than that marked by a comma.

I. Use a semicolon to connect two or more independent clauses.

It is so in war; it is so in economic life; it cannot be otherwise in religion.

Each division of the above sentence could stand independently. Breaking the thought into three sentences would slow it down. Connecting the separate thoughts with semicolons creates a flow and/or sense of urgency.

II. Note that a semicolon may replace the use of a comma and conjunction.

It is so in war, and it is so in economic life, and it cannot be otherwise in religion.

Use either a semicolon OR a comma and a conjunction, but never both together.

 III. Use a semicolon before transitional adverbs.

Sarah wanted to buy a Pomeranian; however, her landlord nixed the idea.

Then, however, thus, hence, indeed, accordingly, besides, and therefore are considered adverbs rather than conjunctions, and therefore may be preceded by a semicolon when used to transition from one clause to another.

When the adverbs yet and so are used transitionally as conjunctions, they are preceded by a comma:

It was raining, so I borrowed Ralph's umbrella.

IV. In enumerations use a semicolon between the different links.

The defendant, in justification of his act, pleaded that (i) he was despondent over the loss of his wife; (2) he was out of work; (3) he had had nothing to eat for two days; (4) he was under the influence of liquor.

And:

The membership of the international commission was made up as follows: France, 4; Germany, 5; Great Britain, 1.

And also:

 Presidents Hadley, of Yale; Eliot, of Harvard; Butler, of Columbia; and Angell, of Michigan.

III. In Scripture references a semicolon is used to separate passages containing chapters. 

Gen. 2:3-6, 9, 14; 3:17; chap. 5; 6:15.

VII. Place a semicolon outside of quotation marks.

John's favorite poem is “Ozymandias”; he  memorized it to recite to his friends.

The semicolon should be placed outside the quotation marks, unless a part of the quotation.

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Punctuation: Colon

Punctuation: Colon

From Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press:

A colon marks a break in grammatical construction while emphasizing the relationship between the parts. It represents a break greater than that indicated by a semicolon and less than that indicated by a period.

I. Emphasizes a close connection

The fear of death is universal: even the lowest animals instinctively shrink from annihilation.

A colon is commonly used to emphasize a close connection in thought between two clauses, each of which forms a complete sentence and which could instead be separated by a period. 

II. Separates from illustration or amplification

Most countries have a national flower: France the lily, England the rose, etc.

A colon may be used to separate a clause which is grammatically complete from a second which contains an illustration or amplification of its meaning

III. Introduces a formal statement, extract, or dialogue 

The rule may be stated thus: Love one another.

Charles: “Where are you going?”
George: “To the pub.”

A colon may be used to introduce a formal statement, an extract, a speech in a dialogue, etc., (unless this is preceded by a conjunction, like “that,” immediately connecting it with what goes before).

IV. Takes the place of an implied phrase

This is true of only two nations—the wealthiest, though not the largest, in Europe: Great Britain and France.

The colon thus often takes the place of an implied “namely,” “as follows,” “for instance,” or a similar phrase. Where such word or phrase is used, it should be followed by a colon if what follows consists of one or more grammatically complete clauses; otherwise, by a comma.

V. Follows an introductory remark

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Put a colon after the introductory remark of a speaker addressing the chairman or the audience.

VI. Separates hours and minutes, chapter and verse  

4:30 p.m.

Matt. 2:5-13

Put a colon between hours and minutes in time indications, and between chapter and verse in Scripture passages.

VII. Place a colon outside of quotation marks

Susan writes under the head of “Notes and Comments”:  no one knows who she is.

The colon should be placed outside the quotation marks, unless a part of the quotation.

VIII. Material following a colon sometimes begins with a capital

The rule may be stated thus: Love one another.

Charles: “Where are you going?”
George: “To the pub.”

If what follows a colon is a formal statement, more than one sentence, a speech in dialogue, or a quotation, it should begin with a capital.

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Punctuation: Period

Punctuation: Period

From Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press:

A period is used to indicate the end of a complete sentence.

I. Put a period after most abbreviations.

Macmillan & Co., Mr. Smith, St. Paul, No. 1, Chas., ibid.

A. Treat the metric symbols as abbreviations:

10 mm.

B. Exceptions:

1. Do not use periods with the chemical symbols, nor the phrase “per cent.”

O, Fe; 2 per cent

2. Do not use a period, in technical matter, after the recognized abbreviations for epochs:

AD (Anno Domini)
BC (Before Christ)
CE (Common Era)
BCE (Before Common Era)
IE (Indo-European)

OE (Old English)

II. Use no period after Roman numerals.

Vol. IV

A. This is true even when Roman numerals have the value of ordinals: 

Louis XVI was on the throne.

B. Exception: 

Roman numerals used in an outline are followed by a period. 

III. When using quotation marks, the period is placed inside.

Please read Tennyson’s “In Memoriam.”

Sylvie said, “It’s raining.”

IV. When using parentheses, the period is placed according to use. 

A. Place the period inside the parentheses

when the matter enclosed is an independent sentence and forms no part of the preceding sentence:

 John dropped the hammer on his toe. (It hurt badly.)

B. Place the period outside the parentheses

when the matter enclosed is an independent sentence is part of the preceding sentence.

Fried sweets are tempting (for instance, doughnuts).

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Punctuation: Names of marks

Punctuation: Names of marks

From Why We Punctuate by William Livingston Klein and English Grammar; Punctuation and Capitalization; Letter Writing published by The International Textbook Company:

The names of the principal marks were given to them by the Greek grammarians. The name of each mark is the name of the group of words with which the mark was used.

I. Period (.)

John went home.

The period (periodos, “a way around”) marked a complete circuit of words, and the picture in the word is the circular track of a race course.The group of words which we call a sentence, the Greeks called a period. They arbitrarily marked its end by a dot, and called the dot also a “period.” We retain the name of the mark.

II. Colon (:)

John took with him his tools: hammer, saw, level.

The colon (kolon, “a limb,” “half of a race course”) was one of two main divisions of a long compound sentence. From the part or division the name was transferred to the mark used in indicating the divisions. We retain the name of the mark in our word colon.

III. Semicolon (;)

 John dropped the hammer on his toe; it hurt badly.

The semicolon is a mark of later date; and, as its name implies, it falls between the comma and the colon in its character and use. Strictly, the semicolon should be used in separating a sentence into fourths; but, for obvious reasons,  no such limitation is possible. It indicates a degree of separation less than that made by the colon, but only in name, not in reality, is it a half-colon. 

IV. Comma (,)

John hopped, howled, cried, and cursed.

The comma (komma, “a segment;” koptein, “to cut”) denotes the shortest separation in ideas or construction between sentence elements.

IV. Question mark (?)

Had John broken his toe?

The question mark is said to have been made from the initial and final letters of the Latin word Questio, the Q being written above the o; thus,

 V. Exclamation mark (!)

John had broken his toe!

The exclamation mark is believed to have been formed from the letters of the Latin interjection io, expressing joy; thus, 

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Punctuation is used to group words

Punctuation is used to group words.

From Why We Punctuate by William Livingston Klein:

The fundamental purpose of punctuation is to use marks to group words.

I. Meaning depends on grouping.

John has gone home.

The meaning of language depends very largely upon the groupings of its words. In very simple language, words are so placed that each word is related to a word or words immediately or closely following or preceding it. In such language the reader is hardly conscious that the words are grouped, except into sentences; and no mark may be required, except the end-mark.

II. Grouping clarifies when there is more than one possible meaning.

The prisoner said the witness was a convicted thief.

vs. 

The prisoner, said the witness, was a convicted thief.

In more complex language the grouping within the sentence becomes manifest to the reader, and two constructions and two meanings of the language often become possible. In order to notify the reader which meaning the language is intended to convey, the writer may use a punctuation mark to flag the point where the meaning may be mistaken. The reader notes the flag and thus keeps on the right line of thought-development.

III. When to use a mark, and what mark to use, are determined by convention or by reason.

In the absence of marks, the relationship between words are either easily mistaken or not quickly understood.

Mr. Smith came to the city in 1985 and moved into the house at 1985 Wabash Avenue. He brought with him 1,985 horses, valued at $198, 500.00.

How does punctuation enable the reader to obtain the meaning at one point in the above sentences, and so to group the language (figures) at another point that he can apprehend the meaning at a glance?

A. Convention

Because of convention (well-nigh universal usage), the above date and street numbers are read nineteen hundred eighty-five.

In the fourth number in our example above we use a comma to do one grouping, and a period to make another (the cents) group. We call the use of the period in this number conventional punctuation.

B. Reason

But the same number in the next sentence is read one thousand nine hundred eighty-five.

As we all know, in arithmetical notation three figures form a group, the groups so formed being named units, thousands, millions, etc. It is therefore evident that, in reading a number containing two or more such groups, the eye will be aided if the groups are indicated by some mark. (We here use the comma and the period for this purpose.) Although the left-hand group of a number may not be full, a figure in that group takes the name of the group, and so we mark it off. Thus we use commas in two of the numbers in our example, one of which (1,985) has only one figure in the second (thousand) group. This we call punctuation by reason, for we thus point off natural groups.

We do not use the comma to group the figures in the same number (1985) used in two other places in the above example. Because date and street numbers of four figures are read in groups of two figures each the eye readily does the grouping, and a mark is not needed as an aid in the grouping. This is also punctuation by reason.

C. Our problem

Our problem is to find a reason for the use of every punctuation mark, and to be ready to point out what seems to us good conventional usage in punctuation for which we can find no reason.

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Punctuation: Revealing meaning

Punctuation: Revealing meaning

From Why We Punctuate by William Livingston Klein and Handbook for Newspaper Workers by Grant Milnor Hyde:

A mark of punctuation is used because it has a meaning and serves a useful purpose in written language.

I. The function of marks is twofold:

A. To reveal the real meaning of written language.

Do not use a punctuation mark unless you see a logical reason for it. Consider each case logically and have a reason for every mark you use. Be ready to defend your usage.

B. To reveal such meaning at a glance.

Punctuation was invented to make writing clear and easy to read. Use marks enough to insure clearness — and no more.

II. Marks perform this function in three ways:

A. By breaking up apparent groups of words, which readily form themselves into new groups.

Marks are used to separate entire sentences; these include the period, the question mark, the exclamation mark, the colon at the end of an introductory sentence, and the quotation mark when concerned with entire sentences.

Now you may go. Come back later.

B. By showing the relations between groups.

Marks are used with individual words, parts of words, or figures; these include certain uses of the colon, certain uses of the period, the uses of the hyphen, the uses of the apostrophe, and some of the uses of quotation marks.

Vegetables are good for you: kale, spinach, carrots, beets.

C. By characterizing a group of words.

Marks are used to separate parts of sentences; these include the comma and semicolon in all their uses and the dash in most of its uses.

Boys, like men, may be courageous for principle's sake.

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Ellipsis: Something is missing

Ellipsis: Something is Missing

From English Composition and Rhetoric, by Alexander Bain;  English Composition by W. Davidson; Practical Rhetoric, by Albert Raub:

Ellipsis (Greek elleipsis, ‘an omission’) is a figure of both grammar and rhetoric in which some word or words in a sentence are omitted for the sake of brevity or elegance:

Either you [must go] or I must go. 

The words ‘must go’ are omitted and said to be understood or implied.

 

I. The omission is essential to the construction but not to the sense of the sentence.

The flies and the dust stuck to the paper 

as [they would have stuck] to clay.

II. Ellipsis is a suggestive figure.

What is unexpressed is left to the listener or reader to intuit.

 [it is] Impossible! [that...]

The single word ‘Impossible!’ is more expressive than a complete sentence affirming impossibility.

III. There are three types of omission.

A. Omission of a relative pronoun

This is the letter [which]  I wrote.

B. Omission of a conjunction

He came, [and] saw, [and] conquered.

C. Omission of an entire clause

[This is] Astonishing!

IV. When omitting words from a direct quote, an ellipsis is indicated by three periods.

A. Omission of a word or group of words

When one, for the sake of brevity or otherwise, omits a word, a group of words, or one or more sentences from a quotation, such omission is indicated by three periods. 

“Then I asked for a three penny loaf... He gave me, accordingly, three reat puffy rolls.” [Ben Franklin in Autobiography]

B. Omission at the end of a sentence

1. If words are omitted from the end of a sentence, the end-mark of the sentence, if an exclamation point or an interrogation-point, is retained, and follows the three periods.

“Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle...?”
[Patrick Henry, Speech in the Virginia Convention]

2. If the end-mark of the sentence is a period, and one or more sentences following are omitted, there will be four periods at this point. There will be the same number if words are omitted from the beginning of a sentence following a sentence ending with a period.

“We had not been long on the move when we saw dust rising in the road at a distance and soon perceived we were about to meet a little caravan of wagons.... My heart pounded at the thought.” [Sarah Eleanor Royce in A Frontier Lady]

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Vocabulary: Using foreign words

"Moi doesn't like to discuss my childhood. I plan to sell the movie rights and I don't want to
ruin the deal by telling you too much. Let's just say I grew up on a farm as an only child."
(Source: Herald Sun)

From The King's English, by Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler:

FOREIGN WORDS

The difficulty is that some French, Latin, and other words are now also English,

though the fiction that they are not is still kept up by italics and (with French words) conscientious efforts at pronunciation.

Such are tête-à-tête, ennui, status quo, raison d'être, eirenicon, négligé, and perhaps hundreds more. The novice who is told to avoid foreign words, and then observes that these English words are used freely, takes the rule for a counsel of perfection—not accepted by good writers, and certainly not to be accepted by him, who is sometimes hard put to it for the ornament that he feels his matter deserves. Even with the best will in the world, he finds that there are many words of which he cannot say whether they are yet English or not, as gaucherie, bêtise, camaraderie, soupçon, so that there is no drawing the line. He can only be told to

1. Use foreign words and phrases if they afford much the shortest or clearest, if not the only way, to the desired meaning (this is usually true of the words we have called really English).

 
2. Use foreign words that have already passed into general English use. 

To say distrait instead of absent or absent-minded, bien entendu for of course, sans for without (it is, like I guess, good old English but not good English), quand même for anyhow, penchant for liking or fancy, rédaction for editing or edition, coûte que coûte for at all costs, Schadenfreude for malicious pleasure, œuvre for work, alma mater (except with strong extenuating circumstances) for University—is pretension and nothing else. Moreover, what was said of special association or allusion may apply; to call a luncheon déjeuner, however, as in the appended extract, because it is to be eaten by Frenchmen, is hardly covered by this, though it is a praiseworthy attempt at what the critics call giving an atmosphere.

It was resolved that on the occasion of the visit of the French Fleet in August the Corporation should offer the officers an appropriate reception and invite them to a déjeuner at the Guildhall.—Times.

But speaking broadly, what a writer effects by using these ornaments is to make us imagine him telling us he is a wise fellow and one that hath everything handsome about him, including a gentlemanly acquaintance with the French language. 

3. Avoid literal translations.

It sometimes occurs to a writer that he would like to avail himself of a foreign word or phrase, whether to make a genuine point or to show that he has the gift of tongues, and yet not keep his less favored readers in the dark; he accordingly uses a literal translation instead of the actual words. It may fairly be doubted whether this is ever worth while; but there is all the difference in the world between the genuine and the ostentatious use.

I thought afterwards, but it was the spirit of the staircase, what a pity it was that I did not stand at the door with a hat, saying, 'Give an obol to Belisarius'.—Morley.

The French have had the wit to pack into the words esprit d'escalier the common experience that one's happiest retorts occur to one only when the chance of uttering them is gone, the door is closed, and one's feet are on the staircase. That is well worth introducing to an English audience; the only question is whether it is of any use to translate it without explanation. No one will know what spirit of the staircase is who is not already familiar with esprit d'escalier; and even he who is may not recognize it in disguise, seeing that esprit does not mean spirit (which suggests a goblin lurking in the hall clock), but wit.

4. Be aware that it is dangerous to translate if you do not know for certain what the original means.

A special caution may be given about some words and phrases that either are shams, or are used in wrong senses. Of the first kind are nom de plume, morale. The French for the name that an author chooses to write under is nom de guerre. We, in the pride of our knowledge that guerre means war, have forgotten that there is such a thing as metaphor, assumed that another phrase is required for literary campaigning, thereupon ascertained the French for pen, and so evolved nom de plume. It is unfortunate; for we now have to choose between a blunder and a pedantry; but writers who know the facts are beginning to reconcile themselves to seeming pedantic for a time, and reviving nom de guerre.

The French for what we call morale, writing it in italics under the impression that it is French, is actually moral. The other is so familiar, however, that it is doubtful whether it would not be better to drop the italics, keep the -e, and tell the French that they can spell their word as they please, and we shall do the like with ours. 

Cui bono? is a notorious trap for journalists. It is naturally surprising to any one who has not pushed his classics far to be told that the literal translation of it is not 'To what good (end)?' that is 'What is the good of it?' but 'Who benefited?'. The former rendering is not an absolutely impossible one on the principles of Latin grammar, which adds to the confusion. But if that were its real meaning it would be indeed astonishing that it should have become a famous phrase; the use of it instead of 'What is the good?' would be as silly and gratuitous as our above-mentioned the spirit of the staircase. Every scholar knows, however, that cui bono? does deserve to be used, in its true sense. It is a shrewd and pregnant phrase like cherchez la femme or esprit d'escalier. Cherchez la femme wraps up in itself a perhaps incorrect but still interesting theory of life—that whenever anything goes wrong there is a woman at the bottom of it; find her, and all will be explained. Cui bono? means, as we said, 'Who benefited?'. It is a Roman lawyer's maxim, who held that when you were at a loss to tell where the responsibility for a crime lay, your best chance was to inquire who had reaped the benefit of it. It has been worth while to devote a few lines to this phrase, because nothing could better show at once what is worth transplanting into English, and what dangers await any one who uses Latin or French merely because he has a taste for ornament. In the following quotation the meaning, though most obscurely expressed, is probably correct; and cui bono? stands for: 'Where can the story have come from? why, who will profit by a misunderstanding between Italy and France? Germany, of course; so doubtless Germany invented the story'. Cui bono? is quite capable of implying all that; but a merciful writer will give his readers a little more help:

(Berlin) The news which awakens the most hopeful interest is the story of a concession to a Franco-Belgian syndicate in the harbor of Tripoli. There is a manifest desire that the statement should be confirmed and that it should have the effect of exciting the Italian people and alienating them from France. Cui bono?—Times.

5. Use foreign words that have some special appropriateness of association or allusion in the sentence they stand in.

It now only remains to add that there are French words good in some contexts, and not in others. Régime is good in the combination ancien régime, because that is the briefest way of alluding to the state of things in France before the Revolution. Further, its use in the first of the appended passages is appropriate enough, because there is an undoubted parallel between Russia now and France then. But in the second, administration ought to be the word:

Throwing a flood of light upon the proceedings of the existing régime in Russia.—Times.

He said that the goodwill and friendship of the Milner régime had resulted in the effective co-operation of the two countries.—Times.

Finally, even words that have not begun to be naturalized may be used exceptionally when a real point can be gained by it. To say chasseur instead of sportsman, gun, or other English word, is generally ridiculous. But our English notion of the French sportsman (right or wrong) is that he sports not because he likes sport, but because he likes the picturesque costumes it gives an excuse for. Consequently the word is quite appropriate in the following:

But the costume of the chasseurs—green velvet, very Robin-Hoody—had been most tasteful.—E. F. Benson.