Why wasn't I taught how to use these in high school? Ever since learning how to use semi-colons my writing has improved dramatically. When I write papers I no longer spend a long time re-structuring sentences that have too many "and"s, commas and run-ons.
Did anyone else never learn how to use these in school? Also thoughts on semi-colons.
>Ils n'ont pas un mot comme "donc"
lel
Yes we do dumb frog.
"Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college."
>Don't use something that learned only by those more advanced in English.
We learned semicolons in elementary school; it separates two independent clauses.
I loved semicolons until I read that; I still use them occasionally.
>Good writers don't use dashes.
-my high school English teacher, Ms. Cunt
>Vonnegut
Opinion discarded
How though? I think semi colons are great; they make our writing sound better, since our thoughts and internal dialogues are sort of in run-on sentences. When i'm writing essay answers in exams they have been a massive help since they help me get my thoughts down faster without worrying about structuring to avoid run-ons and excessive use of "and" or commas.
In classic greek texts this sign represents a question mark. This allows one to read OP's picture as a pun.
>Letting a degenerate sci-fi author dictate your writing style
The greatest works in the English language were written in the 18th and 19th centuries; when the use semi-colons and colons was about as common as the use of commas and periods. These texts are consequently littered with such punctuation marks, which only serves to enhance the writing, not detract from it. Read a few pages of Gibbon or Macaulay; you will find more semi-colons on a single page than you have likely ever written academically in your entire life.
re;tard
>tfw told not to use semicolons too often in middle school
was vonnegut a brainlet?
We learned how to use them in elementary school at the same time we learned about conjunctions. I seem to be the only one who paid attention though as I never saw my peers use them.
>have to go to college to learn how to use a semicolon
>having such a problematic view on 'transvestite hermaphrodites'
wtf i hate vonnegut now
>Ever since learning how to use semi-colons my writing has improved dramatically.
sure it has
...how would a hermaphrodite crossdress?
>They are transvestite hermaphrodites
wow. lemme guess, he loves trump too huh
So it goes.
>They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing; all they do is show you've been to college.
ftfy.
>whining about your school failing to teach you something
You're responsible for your education. If you don't learn something, that's on you.
I tend to think less of writers who use semicolons liberally, especially when they could be replaced with em dashes, which are much more aesthetically pleasing.
Very stupid post.
Frankly, anyone who thinks your fixed sentence is better than the original is subhuman.
Em dashes and semi colons cannot always be used interchangeably: em dashes are usually for digressions in the middle of a clause, or emphasis of a clause; semi colons denote a higher level of sentence organization and can be used to connect clauses and ideas; but I certainly do sympathize with your aesthetics argument: I would fervently argue in favor of the Oxford comma on aesthetic basis alone, ignoring all practical reasons to include one.
Semicolons are my niggaz
Virginia Woolf BTFO
No but...it's one of those things you're not really supposed to use anyway. Any time I wrote a sentence with one in college, they always just made me re-write it so that it wasn't necessary anyway.
>they always just made me re-write it so that it wasn't necessary anyway
Which is ridiculous. Certain punctuation exists to make your life easier. Imagine if every possessive apostrophe like in "John's dog" had to be replaced with "the dog of John", like in Spanish.
You mean like a period?
That's retarded, dashes are extremely useful for suggesting tone.
First time on lit.
How do semicolons work?
I don't think OP was talking about creative fiction writing.
>stop doing things i don't like
>Frankly, anyone who thinks your fixed sentence is better than the original is subhuman.
Thus spake the untermensch.
No, a period ends a sentence.
As a computer engineer, I use that shit all the time.
No idea how to use in literature...
Semicolons are tricky; but not really.
Fuck I meant to say:
Frankly, anyone who thinks your fixed sentence is **not** better than the original is subhuman.
I'm not an Untermensch, I promise :(
Ya know, all of a sudden you're looking a lot like an ubermensch, user. :^)
Ok, but seriously guys we're semicolons only invented to easily cover up a run-on sentence when you used just a comma?
Kek. You know what's funny is that your first semicolon in that comment is wrong af. It should be a comma or nothing. Are you illiterate?
You can't even use semicolons properly so stop preaching u tool
Joke's on Kurt; I use semicolons and I've never been to college.
Not quite, should've been a colon, could also have been a comma like you said; I use my punctuation pretty liberally though, user.
A sentence is just one or more clauses. Semi-colon actually divides and connects related clauses.
What? Why?
underrated post my dude
quite the laff i had
Like semiconductors, they are neither insulators nor conductors; the currents of linguistic conveyance are restricted to bands as they flow through the semicolon.
What the fuck are you talking about? none of those semi colons are wrong.
>a colon
what? that's absolutely nonsensical.
Honestly,
>They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college
would flow much better had a semicolon been used instead of a period.
I never understood why so many people hate semicolons. "They make you look like a tryhard" is basically what I usually hear, or "students often use them wrong, so just don't use them" if they're a professor. They're useful, I don't get it.
Oui, nous ne avons un, putain de grenouille