this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2025
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Comic Strips

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[–] sxan@midwest.social 5 points 4 days ago

I have one easy rule, and two examples. Use them when using a comma would be confusing.

Examples: often in lists, where each item might contain a comma and so trying to separate list items with commas would just be confusing; and more broadly anywhere where you have a sentance containing clauses and need a different separator.

I just used the first example above: to separate the two list items, and the other one I'm using here, where I'm already using commas; using a semicolon allows braking this up without starting a new sentance.

That second example was somewhat contrived, but does the job; it could have been two sentences.

Actually, there's another place I use them, but it's not a "rule" and if more style: I use them selectively in place of periods to prevent a series of short, choppy sentences.