Dashes & Semicolons

[Millarca]

I'm confused. How do you use them? Enlighten me?

 

[Deleted member 45782]

Semicolons are ;
They connect two independent clauses together. So sorta like two small sentences.

Ex: I had a burger for lunch; it was surprisingly good.

 

[Millarca]

My caffeine deficient brain just realized I posted in wrong Sub Forums. Can we move this to Discussion & Writing Tips or are we fine like this?

 

[Deleted member 45782]

My caffeine deficient brain just realized I posted in wrong Sub Forums. Can we move this to Discussion & Writing Tips or are we fine like this?

Reported your thread. Hopefully now just waiting for a mod to move it to the right section.

 

[GDLiZy]

Semicolons are :
Listing things.

That is the colon. Semicolon is ;

The Punctuation Guide

The web's most comprehensive guide to American punctuation.

www.thepunctuationguide.com

 

[Deleted member 45782]

That is the colon. Semicolon is ;

The Punctuation Guide

The web's most comprehensive guide to American punctuation.

www.thepunctuationguide.com

Completely forgot about it, my mistake. Thanks!

 

[Millarca]

Is it okay if I avoid them all? Sounds complicated.

 

[Deleted member 45782]

Up to you how you wanna write.

Most stuff uses commas and quotations and basic punctuation marks. Semicolons i think depend who writer is and if they use it a lot. Use them sparingly and only when it fits; don't combine it everywhere to make extremely long sentences.

 

[someguysomeone]

You use dashes in emojis. Semicolons in java. No writer on the website uses them. No one reading here cares about them. Hell no reader here would be even able to tell if you used them in a grammatically right way or not.
Go ask this on royalroad.

 

[Deleted member 45782]

You use dashes in emojis. Semicolons in java. No writer on the website uses them.

Some writers do use some of those in their sentences, but if done really well, its not gonna stick out like crazy that its pretty noticeable like you say.

 

[Kitsura]

How to use a semicolon - The Oatmeal

The most feared punctuation on earth.

theoatmeal.com

 

[Motsu]

I can't understand why someone couldn't google something like that immediately instead of asking in SHF... can't you see that everyone in here can't even tell what's 5 meters apart?

 

[Leti]

I can't understand why someone couldn't google something like that immediately instead of asking in SHF... can't you see that everyone in here can't even tell what's 5 meters apart?

What make you so sure the OP haven't googled it first before asking in SHF? Bold of you to assume everyone use the metric system or aren't afraid of it.

 

[Motsu]

What make you so sure the OP haven't googled it first before asking in SHF?

Because the OP asked here first. Of course, if the OP went and searched it in Google, I bet there wouldn't be any problem because the whole internet has a clear and concise tutorial for every single thing. What—you think a person in SHF is any better than a verified tutorial site? That's like telling anyone an unlicensed doctor is better than the licensed one.

Bold of you to assume everyone use the metric system or aren't afraid of it.

I get this faulty generalization bullshit. However, it's bold of you to make assumptions that just because they aren't afraid means they can use them like they know anything about it.

 

[Agentt]

I just use my fullstops.
Short pause .
Medium pause ...
Long pause .....
No need for any other punctuation

 

[Millarca]

I apologize if this thread caused a problem. I just wanted some tips from authors in this side. The whole internet have a clear and concise tutorials for anything, but my inferior brain can't understand most of it.
Can we stop fighting now? Should I ask the admin to lock this thread? I don't want to start a drama...

 

[Leti]

I apologize if this thread caused a problem. I just wanted some tips from authors in this side. The whole internet have a clear and concise tutorials for anything, but my inferior brain can't understand most of it.
Can we stop fighting now? Should I ask the admin to lock this thread? I don't want to start a drama...

It's okay, nobody is fighting. Don't take everything here seriously. You don't have to use semicolon if you don't want to.

 

[Motsu]

I apologize if this thread caused a problem. I just wanted some tips from authors in this side. The whole internet have a clear and concise tutorials for anything, but my inferior brain can't understand most of it.
Can we stop fighting now? Should I ask the admin to lock this thread? I don't want to start a drama...

We aren't really fighting. If it really looked like it, then I apologize for the ruckus.

---

There are three kinds of dashes:

Hyphen (-) -
Hyphens are punctuation marks that join words together.

For example, 'a 10-years-old high-rise heretic appeared in a flash!'

Em dashes (—) -
An em dash is used to indicate a pause in a sentence, usually to add more focus on the information.

For example, 'As his thoughts conceptualized the idea of living at the edge of the world meant—she interjected to break the awkward mood.'

En dashes (–) -
The en dash is used to represent a span or range of numbers, dates, or time. There should be no space between the en dash and the adjacent material

For example, '2020-2021... 1-50 numbers.'

---

Semicolons:
Use a semicolon to join two related independent clauses in place of a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet). Make sure when you use the semicolon that the connection between the two independent clauses is clear without the coordinating conjunction.

For example, 'From all of those streaks of mistakes; we inevitably lost.'

 

[GDLiZy]

Semicolons:
Use a semicolon to join two related independent clauses in place of a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet). Make sure when you use the semicolon that the connection between the two independent clauses is clear without the coordinating conjunction.

For example, 'From all of those streaks of mistakes; we inevitably lost.'

Your example is wrong.

People really need to double-check themselves before posting about the hard-and-fast rules.

 

[skillet]

if you can replace the semi-colon with a period, you're doing it right. If you can't, then don't use the semi-colon! A comma would probably suffice then.

EXAMPLE:
If I replace this semi-colon with a period; it won't work. --> If I replace this semi-colon with a period. It won't work. (X)
I can replace this semi-colon with a period; it'll still work. --> I can replace this semi-colon with a period. It'll still work. (O)

(btw, this is what it means to be independent clauses-- they can work by themselves as full-on sentences.)

as for dashes, as a rule of thumb, if I can replace it with a colon (:), then it's in a good place. Haha.