Punctuation Addictions....

[elsol]

Hello.

My name is ElSol, and I'm addicted to the semicolon.

At first, it was the comma, the Oxford comma to be exact. I NEEDED that comma to be there or I felt, somehow, incomplete.

Looking back, I realize an editor acted as my enabler. He talked about how my sentences were short, not choppy, but arhythmic, making the reader feel that once they hit a period, it was over.

I tried using words to connect statements, but the word 'and' is so ubiquitous. It seemed like I was adding to the junkyard of piled and's. 'But' was there for me, but many times I did not want the sharp turn 'but' gives to the second statement after its use.

There were others words, yet each, in turn, fell short.

Of course, the solution was obvious after a little thought... the comma. Like any true addiction though, I began to need more: a bigger pause, a larger connection between statements.

And so I fell into this pit of punctuation madness I have come to know as my semicolon addiction.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[minsue]

My name is Minsue....and I'm an ellipses addict....I don't know when it happened....I blame the internet...I used to be able to complete sentences without strings of dots...usually useless ones at that...

....Help me.....help yourselves.........warn your children..............it could happen to them, too.

 

[minsue]

On the topic of semicolons, I don't think I've ever seen one where a period wouldn't have done nicely in its place. But then, I'm a simple goose.

 

[elsol]

My name is Minsue....and I'm an ellipses addict....I don't know when it happened....I blame the internet...I used to be able to complete sentences without strings of dots...usually useless ones at that...

....Help me.....help yourselves.........warn your children..............it could happen to them, too.

Uh yeah... let's not talk about that one.

In truth... it's something else which has become ubiquitous. When I write emails at work, I have to do a special edit just to get rid of them.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[elsol]

On the topic of semicolons, I don't think I've ever seen one where a period wouldn't have done nicely in its place. But then, I'm a simple goose.

I think I was particularly vulnerable to the semicolon addiction due to a dislike of the word 'and'.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Equinoxe]

Unfortunately, it would seem that most people have absolutely no respect for the semi-colon; I for one find that a shame. Savour your semi-colons, your semi-colon addiction, for it is important and they are wonderful.

 

[arienette]

I absolutely love commas and use them whenever I can, and I'm not sure when this started.

 

[Guest]

bah! to you and your additictions...i just use whatever looks pretty at the time.
*grin*

 

[arienette]

bah! to you and your additictions...i just use whatever looks pretty at the time.
*grin*

Well my oh my, aren't you just better than all of us!

 

[elsol]

bah! to you and your additictions...i just use whatever looks pretty at the time.
*grin*

Is that the next stage?

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Guest]

Is that the next stage?

Sincerely,
ElSol

yes, once the addiction is old hat and it's signifigance wears down to a piddly semi colon, the next step is not caring at all. The shift key will only hold a bare minimum of importance and typing will become more of a superfluace art than a means of communication.
revel...it's the only way.

 

[elsol]

yes, once the addiction is old hat and it's signifigance wears down to a piddly semi colon, the next step is not caring at all. The shift key will only hold a bare minimum of importance and typing will become more of a superfluace art than a means of communication.
revel...it's the only way.

Okay... as long as whatever is next does not involve a thesaurus.

My growing dependence on one was beginning to worry me.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Guest]

Okay... as long as whatever is next does not involve a thesaurus.

My growing dependence on one was beginning to worry me.

Sincerely,
ElSol

hell, i forgot to mention the thesaurus. its a concurrent addicition. i can't help you with that as it is my bible. the dictionary, on the other hand, is totally an encumberance. who needs to spell correctly in this day and age?
my bad.

 

[arienette]

hell, i forgot to mention the thesaurus. its a concurrent addicition. i can't help you with that as it is my bible. the dictionary, on the other hand, is totally an encumberance. who needs to spell correctly in this day and age?
my bad.

I love the Thesaurus and the Dictionary -- but the online version, oh yes... http://dictionary.reference.com !

 

[TheEarl]

I like semi-colons; they suit my writing style. Most of my sentences are long and flowing, drifting from one clause to another with commas separating. Like in that previous sentence. With semi-colons, I can keep the flow of my sentences and keep the same rhythm far better than could be accomplished with a full-stop.

The Earl

 

[BlackShanglan]

If you wish to cure yourself of a semi-colon addiction, read the works of Mr. Jean-Jaques Rousseau. He has a major and profound addiction. I believe we once clocked him at a page and a half with no period in sight.

All right, the semicolon. The thing about it is, it's extremely useful in many circumstances, so one doesn't wish to eliminate it entirely from one's toolbox - unless, that is, one happens to be Earnest Hemingway or some other deliberately bare and extremely sparse stylist. But how to get control of it? I suggest thinking of it this way ...

The semicolon is a tool used for emphasis. It's not emphatic in quite the same way as the exclamation point ("Look at this!"), but it does serve to stress something. What the semicolon stresses is the relationship between the two ideas being joined with a semicolon rather than a period. It's a way of telling the reader, "I want you to think of these two ideas as being especially closely connected."

With that in mind, one realizes that one can't stress everything. Just as exclamation points, when over-used, actually decrease the stress of each individual usage, so semi-colons, when over-used, decrease the significance of the connection one is attempting to establish. All emphasis is relative; it's only emphasis because it stands out from what is around it. If you're attempting to tell your reader that nearly every idea in your writing is intimately and closely connected to nearly every other idea, then they eventually all become equally closely related and the semicolon loses its meaning. Thus the semicolon, like the exclamation point, achieves greater meaning when used more sparingly. Because it's not quite as glaring and and demanding in emphasis as the exclamation point, you can use it a bit more, but always with the knowledge that emphasis is basically a zero-sum equation. To put more emphasis on one idea, you have to take it away from another, so it has to be used with care and planning.

This is all, of course, seperate to the semicolon's other used in seperating items in a series that contain commas. If you wish to discuss commas, which are shorter than full stops; periods, or full stops for our English readers; and semicolons, which function as exactly what they look like, a cross between a comma and a period, then you would use semicolons to seperate the elements of the series in order to avoid confusion.

Ellipses fall into the same category, by the way. If you wish an unfinished thought to stand out as especially trailing or meandering, ellipses are your friend. Too many, however, and the effect loses power. Ellipses also have the effect of slowing down the reader. They essentially say "long pause, while the thought trails off." Too many long pauses make reading very frustrating. There is, however, a little-known grammatical convention that states that all grammatical choices made by goslings are correct.

For God's sake, stop me. This is a disease. I can't help myself.

Shanglan

 

[impressive]

At first, it was the comma, the Oxford comma to be exact. I NEEDED that comma to be there or I felt, somehow, incomplete.

Oh, gawd. I hear THAT!

 

[elsol]

If you wish to cure yourself of a semi-colon addiction, read the works of Mr. Jean-Jaques Rousseau. He has a major and profound addiction. I believe we once clocked him at a page and a half with no period in sight.

All right, the semicolon. The thing about it is, it's extremely useful in many circumstances, so one doesn't wish to eliminate it entirely from one's toolbox - unless, that is, one happens to be Earnest Hemingway or some other deliberately bare and extremely sparse stylist. But how to get control of it? I suggest thinking of it this way ...

That's my problem... I like bare and extremely sparse.

Where did I go wrong!?!

Sincerely,
elsol

 

[TheEarl]

What's the difference between a common or garden comma and an Oxford comma?

The Earl

 

[dr_mabeuse]

A lot of editors don't like semicolons. They actually prefer an em dash.

I've been making the switchover. I set up [ctrl] [hyphen] to give me an em dash in Word because the auto-replace function (em dash substitutes for a double dash with no space) doesn't always seem to work, and now I've been using it more.

The em dash even translates into Lit format if you set it up that way.

Still, there are some places were a semi is the only way to go.

 

[elsol]

A lot of editors don't like semicolons. They actually prefer an em dash.

I've been making the switchover. I set up [ctrl] [hyphen] to give me an em dash in Word because the auto-replace function (em dash substitutes for a double dash with no space) doesn't always seem to work, and now I've been using it more.

The em dash even translates into Lit format if you set it up that way.

Still, there are some places were a semi is the only way to go.

Yes... the em-dash is beginning to dot my work.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[logophile]

I've been working my way up to semicolons lately. My sentences are also long, at least in my real writing. The semicolon has helped me make my paragraphs much friendlier.

When posting here at Lit and when using a chat function, I tend to use ellipses overly much. I like them.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Yes... the em-dash is beginning to dot my work.

Sincerely,
ElSol

Are you feeling any reMorse about this?

(OK, it was a long way around for a pun.)

Shanglan

 

[DrFreud]

I like bare and extremely sparse.

Where did I go wrong!?!

Ummmm. I like them that way too

edited to add: this thread was serious until Shang started the pun. It's the horsey's fault

 

[elsol]

Are you feeling any reMorse about this?

(OK, it was a long way around for a pun.)

Shanglan

Don't worry, it was funny!

Sincerely,
ElSol