Comments on: Why I hate the comma splice

By: Clare Lynch

Clare Lynch — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:13:57 +0000

I only wish everyone else had your elegant grasp of the semi-colon. . .

By: MW Bewick

MW Bewick — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:33:16 +0000

I did find the semi-colon useful in linking clauses when writing academic papers. However I’m finding I use it to a greater extent in writing fiction. It’s really handy if you want to move seamlessly from third person narrated description to interior monologue/thought and resolves some issues of “stream-of-consciousness babble in which unconnected thoughts run hyperactively into each other”. In other words can give direction to thinking/narration.

“He went into the kitchen; the house was freezing and a bowl of soup would warm him up.”

Things like that.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:48:26 +0000

@Susi @Clare
To use an em dash in Wordpress (or any other XHTML site) you have to use what’s known as its ‘character entity reference’ which, in this case, is —.
Here’s a handy list of all the entities available http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_entities.asp

By: Clare Lynch

Clare Lynch — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:23:15 +0000

Fred, I hadn’t thought of it that way but I definitely think you’ve got a point there.

By: Clare Lynch

Clare Lynch — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:22:33 +0000

Hi Susie

I believe the correct expression is, indeed, “surplus to requirements”. “Superfluous to requirements” does occur, but it would be more correct and elegant to simply say “superfluous” rather than “superfluous to requirements”.

I believe that two hyphens joined for the dashing dash, like the two-spaces-after-a-full-stop rule, goes back to the days of the manual typewriter. These days, one can insert an em dash (as it is called) by holding down the alt key when typing a hyphen. It works in Word, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to translate into Wordpress, which is possibly why my em dashes have become hyphens – apologies for any distress caused!

Don’t get me started on the semicolon – I long gave up trying to explain that one to people! I do think it’s best kept for academic writing anyway.

By: susie

susie — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:32:06 +0000

two questions…is is surplus or superfluous that you meant? and when using the dashing dash, isn’t it two hyphens joined? that being posed, i’ve noticed all ages and all nationalities using comma splices. and apparently no one knows how to use a ;. oh well…prescriptive vs. descriptive.

By: Fred H Schlegel

Fred H Schlegel — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:52:34 +0000

Maybe ’stream-of-consciousness’ is the cause as well as the effect generated. People seem to think less about what they write with shorthand, instantaneous communication encouraging ‘press send’ before thought. Add that to early education efforts focused on output over form and we start to see a perfect storm where words just spew onto the page. And with that I go back to my own notebook to look for my own missteps.