Talk:Semicolon

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[edit] Invention

I challenge the statement that Manutous invented the semicolon. The ";" mark was used as a question mark in ancient Greek, where a raised dot served the semicolon function and the paired dots ":" we know as a colon was used as a colon.

Aldus MAY have "invented" the use of this mark in Italian printing, but the mark was used centuries earlier.

AIUI, Aldus Manutius invented the semicolon we use now. The ancient Greek question mark looks the same, but is used for something completely different. — Gwalla | Talk 06:25, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Comparing the Semicolon with the Im Dash =

It seems to me that the em dash can be used in a similar manner to the Semicolon, but that the em dash is generally closer to being used like a comma, while a semicolon is closer to a period. Am I correct in this belief? Should this article address this subject?

Thanks, --Pordaria 18:25, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Em dash, commas and parentheses may be used interchangably to set-off a separate (severable) clause. The only difference is their relative weights and how distinct the enclosed phrase is. Unfortunately, there is no clear convention on ordering other than comma being the lowest of three i.e; the text is more integrated/essential to the sentence. At least that's what I was able to determine when I recently had this same question. --Belg4mit 22:41, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Use

Is there a proper way to use a semicolon to join two sentences if the first is an interrogative? ie, "Can you clarify this for me; I need to take it to the boss"

would proper use avoid this situation? or could it be terminated with a question mark/period? --CGW 19:41, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

  • Thats a good question; I'm afraid I have no answer for you, but you can email it to writelab<at>uwf(dot)edu, and they will answer it in a day or so.--Smallwhitelight 20:39, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Justify this

The semicolon is frequently considered to be the greatest of the punctuation marks, primarily due to its supposed ability to encompass all other punctuation in one simple yet elegant symbol.

I've removed it because:

  • 99% of the population don't even know what a semi-colon is.
  • It does not encompass all other punctuation - it does not perform the role of a question mark or exclamation mark.
  • If we were having a punctuation beauty contest, I'd go for a full stop as about the only bit of punctuation that gets used properly most of the time and people understand ;)

I don't think this sentence adds anything to the article. Spenny 07:46, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

On your second point, I think that this is an unsettled question. An earlier post in this discussion page askes this, but there has been no satisfactory response.--Smallwhitelight 21:08, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I would just like to proclaim my love for the semicolon! Wright123 22:49, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

I, too, love the semicolon. It's my favourite punctuation mark by far; simply enchanting... Finnif 19:04, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Quite, she's a beauty. However, Spenny's deletion is most justified. I do love the cheeky use of a semicolon in the first paragraph; inspired stuff! Spuddddddd 13:42, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Semicolon Dividing Statements on the Same Line ?

I seem to recall in my early days of Basic there was a syntax for doing this, but I don't think it is a true statement for Pascal and JavaScript. These both have the principle of tokens separated by white space (which can include line endings) which then combine to make a statement. The difference between Pascal and say C is that in C a statement is always ended with a semi-colon whereas compound statements in Pascal are divided by a semi-colon and the final statement does not need a semi-colon (e.g. a statement before an end). Don't know enough about JavaScript to know whether the comment is correct but I suspect it is not.

[edit] Greek example

Do we really need the greek example? It seems a) out of place on the english wikipedia, and b) could confuse some english-learners, as we normally put the semicolon mid-way (or so) in a sentence, whereas the greek put it all the way at the end, (in that example anyway).. I don't feel bold enough to remove it, so feel free to remove it :).. Just my two cents.. oh and yes, I know i'm on a wikibreak :P --Deon555talkReview 06:48, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Wht not keeping it? It doubles as both an example of the use of the "proper" semicolor (middle dot) in that language, plus shows how the "english" semicolon is used as a question mark. The example is a bit poor, I admit (a comma would be better instead of a semicolor/middle dot in this case) but still there should still be some reference to the Greek usage...or at least a better example. EpiVictor 14:30, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
Also not forgetting that people who are new to English are usually found more on simple.wikipedia.org, the learners here are either fairly proficient or do interwiki links :-) Michael Billington (talk • contribs) 23:10, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
I definately have to disagree. This page is about English grammar, not Greek. I personally do not see how the Greek example is in any way relevant to the examples. 62.30.54.65 18:10, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
Maybe keeping a reference to usage in Old Slavonic and Greek without an example would be OK? But then one would wonder why an example of this isn't present...or eliminating the references altogether? EpiVictor 20:21, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps it would be something for a separate page, but the current semicolon page only refers to the English Language usage of it. it is a bit confusing as to the usage of the Greek semicolon in the example... Maybe instead it could be fleshed out and added as another section. 62.30.54.65 15:05, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
Well....a Middle dot article would be the perfect thing, then. Of course it would link back to semicolon...and offer a Greek example and an english translation...so back to square one :-D EpiVictor 19:32, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

The English Wikipedia is not about English - it is about everything, including the Greek language. It just happens to be written in English. -- Beland 02:58, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Characters v. glyphs

The Greek question mark is indicated with a glyph very much like that use for the semi-colon, but these are not the same character. The semicolon is U+003B, and the Greek question mark is U+037E. This article may be rewritten to note the similarity of glyphs, but it is at present quite incorrect. —SlamDiego 02:37, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I was just about to add basically the same comment. I think that in some fonts (supporting both characters) the glyphs are probably identical. However, I can give the example of Palatino Linotype, where character U+037E is rendered with a glyph where the lower portion looks less like a comma (i.e. like a spiral) than like a prime. It would be nice to check this on the Greek-language page about semicolons ...except there isn't one. (Suggesting that Greek-speakers don't themselves feel they use semicolons???)
Perhaps the article could mention that the semicolon has often been used to render the Greek 'erotimatiko' character, as they have similar glyphs (see [1]).
It's good to keep the info. on this Greek character, but the question is whether the detail belongs in this page or on a separate page.
Does anyone know if this is relevant to the historical use/development of the semicolon?
—DIV (128.250.204.118 06:58, 30 May 2007 (UTC))
In Greek the word is ερωτηματικο. However I now suspect that there is no Greek article purely because there are very few Greek articles altogether ...just 23,456 at last count (compared to 1,807,989 in English).
— DIV (128.250.204.118 07:55, 30 May 2007 (UTC))

(BTW, the punctus versus is U+F1EA.) —SlamDiego 02:47, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Criticism of the Semicolon

I don't think this section belongs in the article. We're not talking about a theory or art, we're talking about a standard convention of english writing. Whether or not you prefer its use is a matter of taste, and faulting its use as some kind of pretentiousness promotes a kind of anti-intellectualism, assuming that people who make full use of the language conventions at their disposal are only trying to show off.

I would say remove the Kurt Vonnegut quote, and its tenuously quoted retort. Wikipedia shouldn't be discouraging people from using all of the punctionation at their disposal to produce good writing. Cbrislain 19:59, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

"It should be noted that excessive use of the semicolon is considered pretentious by many writers and readers in the English language; especially when the mark is employed to create lengthy, multisegmented sentences. To wit, a quote from Kurt Vonnegut: "...do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college."

An English professor faced with the above quote: "Perhaps, and using full stop punctuation just shows you've been to pre-school."[citation needed]"

I think the Vonnegut quote is relevant and should be included. The retort is unattributed, so it should probably not be included. I must say that I'm a heavy semicolon user, but after reading the Vonenegut quote elsewhere, I started to think about it. I began to look more carefully at texts by authors whom I admire for their clarity and style (names not relevant here), and was surprised by how little they use the semicolon! Perhaps there is something to the claims that the semicolon can be stuffy and academic. --Itub 13:54, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
I forgot to add: of course, the semicolon is a standard convention of English writing. However, its use can often be avoided by structuring and phrasing things differently. The writers I was referring to didn't violate any well-defined rule about the use of the semicolon; they just worked around it. --Itub 13:57, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] URL

In a web browser's URL bar, a semicolon looks like: %3B.

I've removed the above: it does not stand on its own as a comment (I can type ; in the bar for example) and so should really be expanded on - but really it is just one special case of presenting ASCII encoding mentioned earlier. I could explain what a semicolon looks like in an IBM hex dump. This article is about semicolons not about the technicalities of implementing the Internet. Spenny 15:14, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Examples

The numbered examples should correspond to the numbered usage cases preceding them. --Belg4mit 22:32, 8 November 2007 (UTC)


Once, I actually used a semi-colon in my writing for math class. The teacher gave me a good grade and congratulated me on my exellent usage of the exquisite punctuation mark. I suggest that you should also use semi-colons in your math class.