Several weeks ago, a reader suggested that Word-wise address semicolons. (Thanks, Ben! Readers, I'm always glad to hear your suggestions.)

I think he's right. Semicolons are certainly one of the least understood marks we use in English. And that's unfortunate. If we wanted to, we could go into lots of fine grammatical detail about when to use semicolons. But it isn't necessary. Pretty much all we need to know about semicolons boils down to two general uses:

• to connect related independent clauses
• in a series, to separate items that have internal punctuation

Independent clauses
An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and expresses a... Click here to read the rest of this post at the Word-wise Blog.

The Word-wise Blog is authored by VAF member AnnaLisa of Admin Maven.


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AnnaLisa, thanks very much for this informative post - I am a classic semicolon abuser but I'll work on keeping it in check going forward based on your info

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Thanks so much for the informative article AnnaLisa.

Wow! I love to learn. Thanks for the lesson!

Thanks, AnnaLisa! Nice site. I've bookmarked it to return to learn more about punctuation!

May I make a suggestion for a future article? When do you put punctuation, such as a comma, period or question mark inside quotation marks & when do they go outside? Or do they ever go outside the quotes?

Have you read "Gone With the Wind"? -- is that correct? Or should it be Have you read "Gone With the Wind?" I never know.

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Lezly Harrison
Laserdog Productions - Code that Doesn't Bite

Thanks, all of you! I love writing these posts. I'm just a nerd that way. But it's especially nice to get feedback from people who've gotten something from reading them, too.

Lezly, the short answer to your question is "It depends." Commas and periods follow one rule while question marks, semicolons, etc. follow another. Also, American English and British English treat punctuation with quotes differently.

The example you gave is correct as you wrote it:

Have you read "Gone with the Wind"?

Now, if it had been a statement instead of a question, it would go the other way (in American English):

I have read "Gone with the Wind."

If the title itself had a question mark, it would go inside, no matter whether the surrounding sentence was a question or not:

I read "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
or
Have you read "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Thanks for a terrific suggestion! I am definitely putting the punctuation-with-quotations topic on my "to write" list.

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AnnaLisa Michalski, Sunny Words Writing Services

This is great, AnnaLisa; love your site! (Is that correct semicolon usage? LOL) I, too, tend to go semi-colon crazy sometimes.

Have you ever touched on the issue of when to write out numbers and when to use digits? I read to write them out if it's 1-99, and other places say write them out 1-9, with 10 going either way. I understand all the exceptions, it's just the general rule thing that I can seem to find an definitive answer.

I have bookmarked your blog; it's great!

Pam

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Pam Deyerle - Transcriptionist in the Richmond, Virginia area
The Perfect Word Transcription Services

I love getting this all straight! Thank you for the great examples. I definitely need it.

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Stephanie Finkbeiner - Balanced Business Service
Helping you balance more than the books

AND thanks to Pam and Stephanie also. This wonderful feedback makes my day!

Pam, your experience nails it. There is no single definitive answer. Numbers/numerals are a case that differs depending on style guide. AP (the guide used by editors of most newspapers and journals) goes one way--write out up to ten--while Chicago (the one used by publishers and many academics) goes the other--write out up to one hundred. I'm putting this question on my list also. Thanks for another great idea! I will definitely not be short of blog material the next few weeks!

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AnnaLisa Michalski, Sunny Words Writing Services