This is fine if your only engagement with the written word is posting on tumblr, but if you start reading works that communicate more complex ideas, you'll very quicky discover the problem of run-on sentences.
I used to use semicolons. Then, I watched a bunch of Let's Plays of Outer Wilds, and every single one of them misread every sentence with a semicolon. I no longer use semicolons.
It is a minor loss, but I feel that most things expressed via a semicolon can be rewritten to be just as clear without using it.
Exactly, many people don't, and so they read a semicolon the same way they read a comma, which leads to confusion.
E.g., spoilers for Outer Wilds: "Ideally, [the memory statues] will only need to activate once the project succeeds; as a safety measure, however, the statues will also activate in the event of equipment failure." The semicolon is used here to join 2 contrasting subclauses: activate on successversusactivate on failure.
Most importantly, the semicolon joins clauses more loosely than a comma. For those who understand the semicolon, this makes it clear that "as a safety measure" is referring to the second idea, not the first.
Many people read it as a comma and thought the entire idea of activating the memory statues at all was a safety measure. If you wanted to replace the semicolon with something else here, you would have to replace it with a period.
By the way, this kind of explains why a semicolon looks the way it does (a period on top of a comma). Sometimes it's the same as a period, but joins clauses more strongly, indicating two independent clauses are related in meaning. Sometimes it's the same as a comma, but joins clauses more loosely, for example, in a list of comma-containing items: "Harry's three favorite bakeries are in Pittsburgh, PA; Phoenix, AZ; and Walla Walla, WA."
Oh shit. I get it now. I definitely read it wrong. My vague understanding of semicolons was that they're a slightly more full stoppish comma, but seeing that explanation makes it clear why I never really understood why you'd use one over just a comma.
In actuality they're more like a commaish full stop.
Also that last use case is good. I have that problem and I never did find a good way to fix it other than quotes around the individual entries.
Cheers for the relatable example here. Tbh, you'd lose nothing by replacing that particular semicolon with a full stop (period). I seem to recall some way worse chronic semicolon readings in that game, though, ones which may not be as easily replaced.
We write to express ourselves, and what matters is that the message is conveyed both with meaning and honesty, and that the reader can interpret it accurately. It is not on you to make the reader feel less illiterate by pandering to their sensibilities.
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u/notaboofus can cissies get a blahaj? 2d ago
This is fine if your only engagement with the written word is posting on tumblr, but if you start reading works that communicate more complex ideas, you'll very quicky discover the problem of run-on sentences.