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Bebop Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Semi-colon usage

Is this correct:

Unfinished life; It ain't over till I say it's over; time is of the essence.
  

Top answer

It's quite hard to judge whether this style is appropriate without seeing the full context. It's not entirely parallel, but not necessarily wrong for that, if a deliberate stylisation. You do have a capitalisation inconsistency though.

— GPY

  • It's quite hard to judge whether this style is appropriate without seeing the full context.
  • It's not entirely parallel, but not necessarily wrong for that, if a deliberate stylisation.
  • You do have a capitalisation inconsistency though.
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3 Answers
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It's quite hard to judge whether this style is appropriate without seeing the full context.

It's not entirely parallel, but not necessarily wrong for that, if a deliberate stylisation. You do have a capitalisation inconsistency though.
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It might be acceptable in a piece of poetry, but as it stands, it is not correct. The first third isn't even a sentence, and you must have a sentence before using a semi-colon. The other two thirds could count as a sentence, but it doesn't make much sense on its own.
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We don't use a capital letter at the beginning of a clause that follows a semi-colon, so this is not correct.

"Time is of the essence" means that you have to hurry. But you are saying that whatever it is won't be finished until you say it is, so time is not a concern. That doesn't make sense.

"Unfinished life" is
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