Semi-colon usage

March 27, 2009 11:29 AM

Semi-colon usage: "My name's John; I'm a carpenter and I enjoy repairing old homes and building new ones."

Does that look and sound right to you? According to the 'rules' it seems correct, but I would appreciate a second opinion.

posted by boosh to media & arts (29 comments total)

Yes, it's correct. In that case the semi-colon replaces the word and.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:33 AM on March 27

That is correct.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 11:34 AM on March 27

Correct.
posted by scody at 11:39 AM on March 27

That is correct. The two independent clauses are separated by the semicolon. You could also choose to use a full stop, but this conveys the relationship between the two clauses. Support your local semicolon, a misunderstood and tragically underused punctuation mark.
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:41 AM on March 27 [10 favorites]

A colon would also be correct there as both clauses are complete sentences.
posted by nanojath at 11:45 AM on March 27

It's correct, but personally I'd have used a full stop in this instance. So would Hemingway.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:52 AM on March 27 [4 favorites]

Correct. (Though, sans context, it's not the most elegant use of a semi-colon I've ever seen.)
posted by desuetude at 11:53 AM on March 27

Correct.

Personally, I'd prefer "My name's John. I'm a carpenter; I enjoy repairing old homes and building new ones." The repeated 'and' sounds wonky to me.
posted by CKmtl at 12:05 PM on March 27 [3 favorites]

Correct but clunky. The first clause is so short it doesn't need to be attached to the 2nd in that way. I think you'd be better with just a full stop (or period, depending on where you are from).
posted by modernnomad at 12:23 PM on March 27

A colon would also be correct there as both clauses are complete sentences.

I guess it's strictly correct syntactically, but it really doesn't work with any of the functions of a colon (syntactical-deductive, syntactical-descriptive, appositive, segmental). Maybe the second, but not really.
posted by The Michael The at 12:25 PM on March 27 [3 favorites]

Correct, but what really matters most (I think) is how you want it to be read by the reader.

"My name's John; I'm a carpenter and I enjoy repairing old homes and building new ones."
"My name's John. I'm a carpenter and I enjoy repairing old homes and building new ones."
"My name's John -- I'm a carpenter and I enjoy repairing old homes and building new ones."

All of these should be valid but they may all convey a different tone/pace.
posted by NeoLeo at 12:39 PM on March 27

"My name's John and I'm a carpenter; I really enjoy repairing old home and building new ones" sounds better to my ear. Balances the sentence so you have one "and" in each independent clause.
posted by billysumday at 12:45 PM on March 27 [2 favorites]

I vote for the em-dash.
posted by swift at 12:49 PM on March 27

If I were speaking those phrases, there would be a period. Other folks might speak it with a semicolon.

If I wrote it, I would almost certainly use a period.
posted by charlesv at 12:53 PM on March 27

If we're voting, I vote for full stop. Semicolons are addictive; you have to be careful.
posted by HotToddy at 1:00 PM on March 27 [3 favorites]

There's no doubt that it's correct. Would I use it? No; it looks absurdly pretentious!
posted by Zé Pequeno at 1:09 PM on March 27

I once wrote a song called The Loneliness of the Semicolon that I am pretty sure answers your question:

He's not quite a colon; he's not quite a period
He's got a comma in him, and he's also got a dot
What he is, he wishes he were not

Sometimes he gets confused for an apostrophe from the line below
He splits up sentences; he's half of what his brother Colon is

Oh, the loneliness of the semicolon
Spends his Friday nights all alone, bowlin;
Never gets a strike, no, he never gets a spare
All the other punctuation marks just sit around and stare

Oh, the loneliness... of the semicolon's wife
Wonderin', what she's doing', what she's doin' with her life?
Spends all her time worryin' about her husband
Sweeping all her dreams into the dustbin

People always sayin', "hey, you winkin' at me?" he sas, "Can't you see?
That theres so much more to me than simply winkin' at thee?"

Oh, the loneliness of the semicolon
Like a rock down a hill, he just keeps rollin'
Splitting up clauses; avoiding awkward pauses
Donating all of his spare time to charitable causes
But deep down, we're all semicolons, can't you see?
Just a lone hanging do with an apostrophe...
From the line below.
posted by ORthey at 1:13 PM on March 27 [3 favorites]

The semi-colon use is correct, but it's followed by a run-on sentence. Grammatically, it should be:

"My name's John; I'm a carpenter, and I enjoy repairing old homes and building new ones."
posted by Relic at 1:13 PM on March 27

It's technically right, and technically you need a comma before the and.

I don't think you should use it though in this specific case since it's not really adding any information, but I don't know if this sentence about John is really the usage you're asking about.
posted by fleacircus at 1:31 PM on March 27

You could also do the awkward but correct

My name's John, I'm a carpenter, and I enjoy repairing old homes and building new ones.

Feels wrong but it's technically correct. (Right?)
posted by bluedaisy at 1:43 PM on March 27

It's right, as everyone has said. But I like billysumday's rewrite.
posted by penduluum at 2:17 PM on March 27

The Guardian, as usual, has something pertinent to say about this.
posted by Neiltupper at 2:23 PM on March 27 [1 favorite]

I'm paraphrasing but I believe Kurt Vonnegut said something about the semicolon like "Do not use semicolons, they are transvestite hermaphrodites." Something like that.
posted by runcibleshaw at 3:22 PM on March 27

"My name's John and I'm a carpenter; I really enjoy repairing old home and building new ones" sounds better to my ear. Balances the sentence so you have one "and" in each independent clause.
posted by billysumday at 12:45 PM on March 27 [1 favorite +] [!]


I like your rewrite more than the OP's sentence, but personally I would take it one more step and change the wording slightly: "My name's John and I'm a carpenter; I really enjoy repairing old houses as well as building new ones."

Of course, reading the same phrase repeatedly in this thread, and it's beginning to sound like a Carpenters Anonymous meeting intro.
posted by JenMarie at 6:44 PM on March 27

One more vote for em-dash.

Semicolons are as stiff as a 24-year-old mastiff.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 8:55 PM on March 27

I just can't see using a semi-colon in what is essentially conversational speech. Full stop, or em dash.

But if this is just an example, well, it's not a particularly well-suited one. There's no particular reason to link these separate clauses and thoughts.
posted by dhartung at 6:22 AM on March 28

nobody uses semi-colons
posted by edtut at 4:05 AM on March 29

nobody uses semi-colons

Yes; yes we do.
posted by scody at 10:36 AM on March 29

I lurve semicolons; I am using a semicolon in this sentence just for the hell of it.
posted by desuetude at 12:04 PM on March 29 [1 favorite]