Semicolons and Alternative Choices, Part Two

In part one, I introduced the role of the semicolon in separating independent clauses, either without conjunctions or with adverbial conjunctions. Recall that the rhythm of the passage, the degree of connection between the clauses, and instructions to the reader for length of pause in reading the sentence are, or should be, the determinants of the choice of the three alternative punctuation marks, the comma, the semicolon, and the period, given in the order of increasing separation and pause. However, good reader and inchoate good writer, there are three other punctuation marks that are also used to separate clauses and need to be placed somewhere in this discussion; the full colon, the m dash, and the ellipse (parentheses). Moreover, as in the last (questionably contrived) sentence, there are other uses for semicolons.

As the last sentence in the above paragraph also included a contrivance for ellipses, I will introduce that mark now. The sentence, as written, could tolerate three choices for the words, "questionably contrived." They could have been set off in the parentheses, as I did, set off by commas, or not set off at all. What are differences? Commas would bring the phrase out in slight emphasis; they would increase the importance of the words and suggest that they were a significant part of the meaning of the sentence, not what I wanted. Now, read the sentence as though there were no separation of those words from the rest of the sentence. It changes the meaning, entirely. It implies that there is a list of questionably contrived sentences, of which this is the last. But the use of the parentheses actually conveys the sense that it was not integral to the meaning, not important, and could be interpreted as a joke. So, just in brief, the set of ellipses deemphasizes whatever they surround and imply that the words are an aside. We'll forget the rarely used m dash for the moment. It will make a brief appearance later as another alternative for setting words apart.

There is one clear exception to the rather strong rule that semicolons should not precede coordinating conjunctions (or, nor, for, and, so, but, yet). The exception is when the independent clauses, themselves, contain several commas; the semicolon acts as a sort of 'strong comma'. As a future history book might describe the immediate post election months of 2006: Many Republicans, their cohorts in the Democratic Party, and the followers of fair winds began to defect; and one after another, described how long each had known the truth, opposed the war, and were for peace all along. The preceding sentence is both punctuated correctly and accurate. Colons, semicolons, question marks, m dashes and exclamation marks, the so-called strong punctuation marks, come outside quotation marks unless they belong to the quote.

It was a long hard night, so he was tired.

He was tired; it had been a long, hard night.

He was tired. It had been a long, hard night.

All three of the sentences above are correctly punctuated. They all say basically the same thing; nevertheless they differ, albeit subtly. The first sentence leads the reader to expect the meaningful activity in the next sentence. It is merely a weak description and it implies that there will be some sort of meaningful explanation that follows. It was a long hard night, so he was tired. Therefore, he went straight to bed. The second sentence is stronger. There is a close connection to his condition and the cause, but the "long, hard night" is a strong description that might invite an elaboration.

"He was tired; it had been a long, hard night. By the fifteenth round, he felt as though his arms would fall off."

In the third sentence, in which there is a longer directed pause, the connection between his being tired and the "long, hard night" is not necessarily close. In fact, they may be relatively unrelated observations and the reader is left in a state of expectancy regarding the point that the writer is going to make, which may, also, be relatively independent of the fatigue and the condition of the night.

"He was tired. It had been a long, hard night. Now, they were going to go to the Copa Cabana for six hours of dancing and drinking."

The punctuation is integral with the meaning and helps the reader anticipate and understand what's coming. Yes, each of those sentences could be used in any of the constructions, but not as well. The right choice is the difference between smooth, well written passages and those that are not.

There are other uses for the semicolon. For example, in mathematics and some computer languages, but they are of no relevance to this discussion.

Now, for a little something different:

It was a long, hard night -- he was tired. Doesn't work, does it?

It was a long, hard night -- he was raring to go. That works.

Note the colon. The use of the colon in that construction tells the reader that htere will be a list of related items of some sort. They could be sentences, as in the above, or they could be adjectives, nouns, or names. The message is that there is a 'list' to come. This is probably the major use of the colon, although it is described as a 'weak period' in some sources, this is neither a usefulo nor an accurate description. It is most useful when its implication is different from that of any of the other marks, generally when it leads the reader to expect some sort of related list. There is more to it then that, of course, but nothing, I think, important enough to occupy our time here.

Now, the sentences after the colon contain another mark, the m dash. So, what is an 'm dash', anyway and why does it have that ridiculous name? And what are all those other horizontal lines between words?

Hyphen, minus sign, n dash, m dash?? These are all horizontal lines, at mid letter height; all are used in writing and, aside from general morphology, they bear little relation to each other. Hyphens are the shortest of these marks and they appear within words, separating one part of the word from another. This can occur because the word is a compounded word, backformed from two (or more) words often used in conjunction. Why some compound words are hyphenated and some not (some can be either) is beyond the scope, and interest of this article (and possibly any other).

The minus sign, in printed documents, is the length of the hyphen, only slightly thicker. If you don't know what that is used for. Don't do any math. In fact, don't do any writing either; go back to school.

The n dash is used to separate numbers, or words that occur together for some reason other than an inherent connection, for example, the Einstein - Bose statistic. It is called an n dash because it is as long as the letter 'n' is wide.

Unfortunately, few word processing programs provide ready characters that differentiate minus signs, n dashes, and hyphens in length or thickness so that the difference must come from context or spacing between the letters and the dash. For example, hyphens are written without spaces and n dashes (as well as m dashes) are usually presented with a space on either side. Does any of this matter? Well, yes, as it can affect the entire meaning of the sentence.
African-Americans are a majority in the city of Washington. An African (hyphen) American refers to a person.

African - American relations suck in the 21st century. African (n dash) American refers to two separate entities linked for the purpose of this sentence.
OK, enough of this. Hyphens, n dashes, and minus signs are relatively simple and, I hope clear. We introduced this section by referring to the use of the m dash (guess why it's called that) as a writing strategy. Is it different in its implication from the use of other separating marks? If it is, what does it mean? How is it different? Technically, it is a solid line, but in most word processing programs, unless you use some sophisticated strategy such as html markup, the m dash is represented by two hyphen or minus signs. Some programs recognize this use in the context and present it without a gap; some don't. Therefore, the double hyphen sign is universally recognized in reading as an m dash. So, back to why does it exist?

The m dash is more of an attention getting device than any other separating mark. It is used to indicate a significant break in the meaning of the sentence, such as an apparently contradictory insertion.

He was only 5' 3" tall -- but he sure could dunk that basketball.

Similarly, it can be used to present a surprise adjective or noun, usually at the end of a sentence. The above thought could have even more impact as follows:

He was only 5' 3" tall, but his favorite shot was a -- dunk.

He was only 5' 3" tall, but his favorite shot was a -- jump shot.

The punctuation of that last sentence is obviously absurd. There is no point to the m dash to introduce the "jump shot." It would read better as a simple description:

He was only 5' 3" tall and his favorite shot was a jump shot. Or

He was only 5' 3" tall, so his favorite shot was a jump shot.

Both are correct and properly punctuated but with different meanings. In the first construction, the reader awaits your point. You have described something about him but you are obviously going to say something else to make it matter. In the second sentence, you have explained a feature of his game.
Again, the choice of an m dash in a manuscript, whether setting off phrases or presenting single words, is a signal to the reader to pay attention to the shift. It helps the reader anticipate and understand the intent of the writer. Do you need it? No, but you don't need to write clearly or well, either.
From no separator mark, through ellipses, commas, semicolons, to m dashes, there is a progression of emphasis; each choice connotes a slightly different intent and meaning. Sometimes the differences are subtle, but if you don't want to be subtle, write for your club bulletin. If you want to write well, it is a good idea to understand the entire armamentarium that the language presents for you to use. Learning how to use the differences in choices of punctuation as a way to lead your readers where you want them to go, can only help you, as a writer, concentrate more on knowing where you want to go, yourself.