Semicolon inside a quotation mark?

Question

I am sure that I asked the question here a long time ago whether a semicolon can be placed inside, and I was told that no.

I came across this today when reading The Hobbit:

Bilbo would have lied to say: "A warm bath and late breakfast on the lawn afterwards;" but he thought it better to say nothing at all.

Thanks.

GPY · Accepted Answer

I think we have seen in other threads here that, despite his credentials, Tolkien's punctuation can be somewhat eccentric, at least to modern eyes. This seems to be another example.

Clive · Answer

Bilbo would have lied to say . . .

This would make more sense.
Bilbo would have liked to say . . .

Daithy · Answer

CliveBilbo would have lied to say . . . This would make more sense.Bilbo would have liked to say . . .

You're absolutely right. It's meant to be would have liked. I made a typo.

Daithy · Answer

GPYI think we have seen in other threads here that, despite his credentials, Tolkien's punctuation can be somewhat eccentric, at least to modern eyes. This seems to be another example.

Yeah, that was me in those other threads too. Not that I like using Tolkien as an example constantly, but I just happen to be reading his works in the past few months.

Tolkien's punctuation can be somewhat eccentric, at least to modern eyes.

That's probably the way punctuation was considered correct in those times. If he was alive, he might consider contemporary punctuation weird, just saying.

Thanks for the reply.

Semicolon inside a quotation mark?

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