I had a good flight except for one thing—the flight attendant.
She gave me a pillow, she gave me a headset, she gave me a magazine—but she didn’t give me my dinner!
~ Mary
I can’t think of a single reason to separate those sentences with commas—yet I just can’t help but think it looks and reads so much better this way than if it were lumbered with a lot of stodgy old semicolons.
She gave me a pillow, she gave me a headset, she gave me a magazine—but she didn’t give me my dinner!
This is fine. Joining main clauses together is acceptable as long as you have, at minumum, three clauses and a coordinating conjunction joining the final two.
Using the co-ordinating conjunction makes it totally grammatical, whereas, without it, you have a questionablly grammatical sentence (this is where you play your card).
I am aware of this term. To my understanding, it is used for litereary effect in less formal discourse, creating conversational prose, whereas using the conjunction allows the sentence to retain its formality.
As you will know, semicolons are used in two instances, one of which is relevant to what we are discussing in this thread.
I rarely use them, because sentences that justify their use, generally read better with a conjunction, as this shows the relationship between the two clauses. Observe:
I went home earlier than my friends; I was so tired.
I went home earlier than my friends because I was so tired.
Because semicolons are used to join main clauses of a close relationship, it is obvious that he went home because he was tired. But making the disctinction, as in the second example, I think, is better.
As you will know, semicolons are used in two instances, one of which is relevant to what we are discussing in this thread.
This sentence reminded me of an interesting discussion I had on relative clauses with quantifiers versus absolute phrases. With this in mind, which do you prefer?
As you will know, semicolons are used in two instances, one of which is relevant to what we are discussing in this thread.
As you will know, semicolons are used in two instances, one of them relevant to what we are discussing in this thread.
As you will know, semicolons are used in two instances, one relevant to what we are discussing in this thread.
All are grammatical but read read differently. Which you do you prefer?
Notice how we don’t have a comma splice in each case, but this could easily be changed!! Interesting constructions these are!
Stylistically, I prefer the 3rd, but the first one eliminates the confusion of looking like a list, since the word two precedes the comma, and one follows it. I’m probably more inclined to use 1.
Some people love this film. Starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, Fight Club is a film not like any other, with an unpredictible plot and a suprising twist toward the end.
Though it is not a favorite of mine, some really like this film. I give it a 7 out of ten, at the most. Pitt and Norton are fanstastic, as usual.
Without ruining the story, I’ll give you a brief synopsis:
The film is about an unnamed main character, Norton, suffering from a severe case of insomnia, who meets an enigmatic man, Brad Pitt, who helps him begin a fight club to escape the confines of society. As the rebel gang grows and the pranks spiral out-of-control, Norton begins to resist the gang’s actions, before realising a shocking truth about his new life and gang. And, of course, there is a lady in this film, only one.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much more without ruining the story, because the twist is the best part! I’m actually quite impressed with my attempt at explaining the story without ruining the movie.
Please tell me if you watch any of the films I recommend. Interested to hear what you think.
