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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Question on this use of a semicolon
I noticed the following sentence, taken from Mark Twain's "The Awful German Language:"
Fifthly, I would do away with those long compounded words; or require the speaker to deliver them in sections, with intermissions for refreshments.
What is the grammatical function of the semicolon here? I would have expected a comma, as to me it coordinates a dependent clause, and that would be solely under the jurisdiction of a comma, as I understood.
I thought semicolons were for replacing conjunctions between independent clauses or avoiding confusion with commas when writing a list that requires commas for one of the points within.
Thank you
Fifthly, I would do away with those long compounded words; or require the speaker to deliver them in sections, with intermissions for refreshments.
What is the grammatical function of the semicolon here? I would have expected a comma, as to me it coordinates a dependent clause, and that would be solely under the jurisdiction of a comma, as I understood.
I thought semicolons were for replacing conjunctions between independent clauses or avoiding confusion with commas when writing a list that requires commas for one of the points within.
Thank you
Top answer
Anonymous What is the grammatical function of the semicolon here? It is an old punctuational style no longer in use. The text was written in 1880, almost 150 years ago.
- Anonymous What is the grammatical function of the semicolon here?
- It is an old punctuational style no longer in use.
- The text was written in 1880, almost 150 years ago.
- Written styles were often quite different, and such old texts should not be used as models of modern English.
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1 Answers
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AnonymousWhat is the grammatical function of the semicolon here?It is an old punctuational style no longer in use. The text was written in 1880, almost 150 years ago. Written styles were often quite different, and such old texts should not be used as models of modern English.
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