When do you use - and ;?

For dashes (--), look here:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/dash.htm


For semicolons, look here:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/semicolon.htm

First, you need to know the difference, both in appearance and in usage, between a hyphen and a dash. They are completely different punctuation symbols.

caw

What guttersquid's links say. I think my use of the em dash is more comparable to parentheses than a super comma. (Parentheses just doesn't feel right to me when I'm writing fiction in third person-- it feels like an intrusion of the author into the narrative-- but that's a matter of perspective and dependent on how it's done, I suppose.)

I have read a couple books in my youth where a dash was used to indicate interruption of a character's line of dialogue. "Maybe you should-," he started, before the noisy Cow cut him off with a furious 'Moo!'. Oh man I bet grammatitions (not a word) would have a field day with several parts of that sentence.

The other 'wrong' thing I do is use commas in place of parenthesis, rather than a dash. He went to the store, the one across from the mall, to buy a new pair of loafers.

I guess I don't see the functional difference, and I am okay with trampling all over proper language.

Let me first attack the semicolons.

A semicolon is basically the same as a period, without the full stop. It separates two independent clauses, or two sentences that could stand on their own. But that doesn't mean that you want to use a semicolon as often as you would use a period. You should use semicolons sparingly. Here's an example of how I used a semicolon in my book.

A tall, dark figure flashed in my peripheral vision; I froze. The sheets slipped from my grasp and floated back to the bed.

I wanted the part about the tall, dark figure and the part about the main character freezing to be connected--to almost be thought of in the same breath. That's why I used a semicolon. Because of what flashed in the main character's peripheral vision, she froze. If I hadn't used the semicolon, the three sentences could have read more as three separate things that happened, that weren't necessarily connected. See below:

A tall, dark figure flashed in my peripheral vision. I froze. The sheets slipped from my grasp and floated back to the bed.

See? It doesn't quite read the same without that semicolon. And the flow is not as a good, either. It's quite boring.

Semicolons do have another purpose. They can separate a list of items if some of the items within the list also require commas. See the example below:

For Christmas I got my sister a purse; a makeup kit with mascara, foundation, and blush; and a booklet of free movie passes.

The makeup kit is one item out of the three (purse, makeup kit, and booklet of movie passes). But that one item contained individual items within it--the mascara, the foundation, and the blush. Look at how confusing the list would have read without the semicolon:

For Christmas I got my sister a purse, a makeup kit with mascara, foundation, and blush, and a booklet of free movie passes.

Hope that helps!

CoriolisEffect said:

As far as I can figure it's used interchangeable with a comma.

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As an additional note, what I just posted probably explained this already, but a semicolon is not interchangeable with a comma.

In my first example of how semicolons are used, to separate two independent clauses, a semicolon would only be interchangeable with a period. Never a comma in that instance.

Now in my second example of how semicolons are used, when separating certain items in a list, a semicolon would then be used instead of a comma. But I don't think I would say it's interchangeable with a comma.

The rules for dashes are much more lenient. Again, you'll want to use them sparingly—when you need to show emphasis. See what I just did there?

As Adam Nox said, the dashes can definitely be used to show an interruption in dialogue. Otherwise, you can also use the dash anytime you want to show emphasis, suddenly split into a different thought, or insert a dependent clause (not a complete sentence) without the full stop of a period and without feeling rushed because you used a comma. To me, the dash offers a pause that is somewhere between the comma and the period.

Here are some examples from my book:

It was whipping wildly in the doorway—bright and orange—in perfect contrast with the night.

The house was lost, as was my brother—my twin, my other half.

There was no microwave in the cafeteria—not for my use.

Against my liking, I was beginning to think that the paranormal—whatever that encompassed—did exist.

The opposite wall was a collage of mirrors—tall and short, wide and narrow.

Also, just remember that when using a dash (—), as opposed to a hyphen (-), it should be longer. In Word when you type two hyphens in a row and then continue typing without any spaces, you should get the nice long dash that you're looking for. It doesn't show on these forums unless you copy and paste it from Word. It only shows like this: --

very helpful thread. I have struggled with the differences too.
thanks

Glad to help!

I don't know why but I hate semicolons. I think they're ugly and pointless, and the only time I've ever used them is to separate a list within a paragraph. Am I weird? Well, okay, I am admittedly weird for a lot of things, but am I weird for hating semicolons?

Semicolons are wonderful. Different people write different kinds of sentences, and semicolons are great in compound-complex sentences and compound sentences with multiple independent clauses, but they are usually unnecessary in compound sentences and in complex sentences. As Charless Kay Smith pointed out in Styles and Structures, sentence structure is determined on the kinds of and complexity of the thoughts being expressed.

My comp teacher told me in college to use dashes at the end of sentences for an after though. This thread could be a very useful -for people that like to use dashes.

I can't really say that I've sen this same concept practiced in other writings than my own, but this is how I've always used dashes -I can't recall ever being marked for it on a paper.

I use semi colons, rarely, if there's two statements in a sentence that work independent of one another, i.e. each would make sense if you took the other away. Sometimes if their's a list I use them, but I really don't think it's grammatically incorrect if you decide not to use them instead of a regular comma. So I really don't use them unless it's an obvious situation, and they rarely comes up. Your editor may have a difference of opinion though.

The nice long dash is an em dash. I love the semi colon, but then, I'm an artist, and I like for my writing to look interesting and read well too.

I'm reading Frankenstein right now and Shelley is notorious for using semicolons, and making very long sentences. Not a fan...

Lots of very fine writers use semicolons. Terry Pratchett, as just one example.

caw

Could be - I'm reading Night Watch right now though, and their presence is not overly glaring. In Shelley, it was obvious when I lost track of the sentence! LOL

zoedragon said:

I don't know why but I hate semicolons. I think they're ugly and pointless, and the only time I've ever used them is to separate a list within a paragraph. Am I weird? Well, okay, I am admittedly weird for a lot of things, but am I weird for hating semicolons?

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Yep. It's like saying, "I hate the Big Dipper. It only points to the North Star, so I refuse to look at it. The Little Dipper's tail actual ends in Polaris, so there's no navigational use for the ugly, pointless Big Dipper, and it should be removed from the night sky."

I think semi-colons get a bad rap. Just skimming through books on my bookshelf—they're everywhere. Semi-colons used badly are obviously jarring, but what badly used punctuation mark isnt?

My personal pet hate is the exclamation mark! Especially in multiples!!! I allow myself one every 5000 words . . .

Also...ellipses that dont have spaces between the dots...but maybe that's a Brit/American difference.

Ed zzz

Ed_in_Bed said:

Also...ellipses that dont have spaces between the dots...but maybe that's a Brit/American difference.

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In manuscript, you want spaces between the dots . . . because it makes them easier to see. I do a lot of technical academic editing, and, trust me, it's better to have the spaces. At publication time, the publisher will format such things in whatever style they want.

caw

I find that I use semicolons fairly sparingly, but emdashes somehow appear quite regularly. The occasional ellipsis will show up, too, though typically it's during dialogue when people just trail off. I enjoy the versatility of interruption provided by the emdash, and I think it's a great way to show someone being interrupted without having to say 'he interrupted'.