help me punctuate ; : -- ,

I'd go with the commas, if I wrote a sentence like that; but I would rewrite it in some way that made more sense. Cars don't hang; although they do shriek sometimes. If you mean that the car seemed to hang in the air after going off a cliff, then you might want to write that. If that is the case, the the shriek stopped when it left the pavement, unless the engine was shrieking.

Ditto what Snick said.

--Ken

Commas.

Also, commas.

"The car hung" works on its own; the other two clauses just expand on it.

Commas. No semicolons.

caw

tko said:

Kind of true, but object's are said to hang at the peak.

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tko said:

I like the extra paused implied by the semicolon, even though it doesn't quite seem to be correct.

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Just as "object's" makes no sense above, an "extra pause[d] implied by the semicolon" makes no sense.

The first isn't anywhere near the function of an apostrophe, and the second isn't anywhere close to the function of a semicolon.

Both make the writing seem unskilled.

tko said:

MacDonald was a great guy, and he could write in all three genres (Wine of the Dreamers). I think I've seen that quote before, but forgotten it.

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What quote?

caw

tko said:

Kind of true, but object's are said to hang at the peak of their upward arc, and it was the engine shrieking (made clear by the previous sentence which wasn't given to you, the gas pedal was floored, when it left the ground, the engine redlined.)

I like the extra paused implied by the semicolon, even though it doesn't quite seem to be correct. All commas puts everything on equal footing.

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If the car was going up a ramp that ended so that the car was heading upward, then the car would continue upward until its momentum was depleted, and the force of gravity took over, and the machine started to fall; then the car would seem to hang at the top of its arc. If, however, the car went off the side of a road that was edged with a cliff, then the car would simply fall, there would be be no "hanging.

Cars dont have to literally be able to hang for it to make sense. Its like in a cartoon at that moment where the critter doesnt realise they're not standing on anything anymore and then they fall. Its, well.. if not a metaphor, its close to it. I like it, it's suspenseful. Or, maybe the back wheel snagged on a rock right on the edge of the cliff and it literally did hang until the weight of the car and gravity pulled it over the egde.

If it were ME, I'd go with the semi-colon version. I like the way it indicates a pause bigger than a regular comma would, even if its not technically correct.

OR you could change it a little, make it something like "The car hung before finally tipping over the edge, shrieking as it escaped, vanishing as it fell." Although I would still put a ; in there afer 'edge'. That's probaby just me.

Commas.

Commas.

HuntfortheWildborn said:

If it were ME, I'd go with the semi-colon version. I like the way it indicates a pause bigger than a regular comma would, even if its not technically correct.

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Semicolons do not indicate pauses. Neither do commas. Semicolons can be used to join two independent clauses. So for the provided example, a semicolon would not be appropriate.

A common misconception is that semicolons can be used as commas. Except when semicolons are used to separate things in a series that themselves contain commas, semicolons are actually periods (full stops).

In the sentence in question, commas would be correct.

The misuse and overuse of semicolons are strong indicators of amateur writing.

Also:

The car hung, shrieking as it escaped, vanishing as it fell.

That sentence is wrong for another reason. The "ing" verbs ("shrieking" and "vanishing") in the sentence indicate continuing actions that happen at the same time as the first verb, "hung." Therefore, "shrieking" is correct, but "vanishing" is not. The car could not vanish as it fell while still hanging in the air. The vanishing of the car is a separate action, and it must be written in past tense (like "hung").

Something like:

The car hung for a moment, shrieking, then vanished into the ravine.

To further understand the logic, look at another sentence. You would not write:

He stood in the doorway, calling my name, falling dead to the floor.

I would write it as:-

The car hung, shrieking as it escaped... vanishing as it fell.

Then I would edit it about five or six times and completely ruin it

I would do it as two seperate sentences. But then I'd get told off for writing fragments.