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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Uses of semicolon
Hi. I was looking at The View, News on medical excellence, community outreach and philanthrophy from the St. Vincent Foundation for Spring, 2004, and under its St. Vincent Foundation News section, it had these news items in addition to others.
The funds will provide support to the community programs, which provide health education, , immunizations and counseling for the underserved in collaboration with other community organizations in the area; for the local community centers to provide alternative medical services to low income patients; and to other nearby community centers as safe places for local youth by providing tailored educational, cultural, and recreation programs.
It awarded grants this year including $xxx to XXX for support of its projects and services; $xxx to the YYY for continued support of alternative medicine services for low-income families; and $xxx to ZZZ for patient support services for medically underserved and low-income patients.
Note: The letters "XXX", "YYY' and "ZZZ" represent hyphothetical (made-up, unreal) companies or entities.
Questions: Are these semicolon uses correct and common? So far, the usual pattern of this sort that I dealt with usually involves the pattern like this (as simple as it looks):
He met John from XXX, aged 14; Sue from YYY, aged 15; and Joe from ZZZ, aged 15.
Does each element in a sentence like the one above have to have an internal comma for the use of semicolons to be correct? Confused. Help.
The funds will provide support to the community programs, which provide health education, , immunizations and counseling for the underserved in collaboration with other community organizations in the area; for the local community centers to provide alternative medical services to low income patients; and to other nearby community centers as safe places for local youth by providing tailored educational, cultural, and recreation programs.
It awarded grants this year including $xxx to XXX for support of its projects and services; $xxx to the YYY for continued support of alternative medicine services for low-income families; and $xxx to ZZZ for patient support services for medically underserved and low-income patients.
Note: The letters "XXX", "YYY' and "ZZZ" represent hyphothetical (made-up, unreal) companies or entities.
Questions: Are these semicolon uses correct and common? So far, the usual pattern of this sort that I dealt with usually involves the pattern like this (as simple as it looks):
He met John from XXX, aged 14; Sue from YYY, aged 15; and Joe from ZZZ, aged 15.
Does each element in a sentence like the one above have to have an internal comma for the use of semicolons to be correct? Confused. Help.
Top answer
Yes, the semicolons look correct to me. Semicolons can be used to separate items in any list where commas might be confusing. This might be because the descriptions of the items contain internal commas, or because they contain lots of and's and or's, or simply because they are lengthy.
- Yes, the semicolons look correct to me.
- Semicolons can be used to separate items in any list where commas might be confusing.
- This might be because the descriptions of the items contain internal commas, or because they contain lots of and's and or's, or simply because they are lengthy.
- So, internal commas aren't necessarily required.
- The second example would arguably be clear enough with commas, but this doesn't make the semicolons wrong.
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2 Answers
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Yes, the semicolons look correct to me. Semicolons can be used to separate items in any list where commas might be confusing. This might be because the descriptions of the items contain internal commas, or because they contain lots of and's and or's, or simply because they are lengthy. So, internal commas aren't necessarily required.
The second example would arguably be clear enough with
The second example would arguably be clear enough with
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Thank you. First, I need to mentioned the sentences I said were from The View were not (word for word). I saw two long interesting sentences there and initially I thought I would use the sentences word for word. Then, I thought not to. I then changed the sentences, but unfortunately did not erase the part "I was looking at The View, News on medical excellence, community outr
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