Essential guide to writing part 26

Even when the coordinated clauses are not very long, a semicolon may still replace the more conventional comma if the writer wants a significant pause for emphasis or rhythm: Children pl

39° PUNCTUATION

Paratactic compound sentences punctuated with semico-lons are especially common when the second clause repeats the first:

The New Deal was a new beginning; it was a new era of American government Arthur M Schlesinger, Jr Wendell Willkie was publicly and privately the same man; he was

himself Roscoe Drummond

All of these newcomers—black and white—toiled under some de-gree of unfreedom; they were bound servants for greater or lesser

terms Oscar Handlin

Using and in such sentences would be subtly misleading,

im-plying a change of thought where none in fact exists Parataxis is also effective between clauses expressing a sharp contrast of idea:

Languages are not invented; they grow with our need for expression Susanne K Langer

He [President Calvin Coolidge] knew precisely what the law was;

he did not concern himself with what the law ought to be.

Irving Stone Groups are capable of being as moral and intelligent as the indi-viduals who form them; a crowd is chaotic, has no purpose of its own and is capable of anything except intelligent action and real-istic thinking Aldous Huxley

Clauses like these could be joined by a comma and but

Omit-ting the conjunction and using a semicolon, however, makes

a stronger statement, forcing readers to see the contrast for themselves

Occasionally even coordinated clauses are separated by a semicolon This is done at the discretion of the writer and is more common when the clauses are relatively long and com-plicated, containing commas within themselves In that case

a semicolon more clearly signals the break between them The For more material and information, please visit www.tailieuduhoc.org

following sentence is an example (the Duke of Wellington is commenting with pleasant cynicism upon the capacity of young ladies to endure the absence of lovers gone to war):

They contrive, in some manner, to live, and look tolerably well, notwithstanding their despair and the continued absence of their lover; and some have even been known to recover so far as to be inclined to take another lover, if the absence of the first has lasted too long.

Even when the coordinated clauses are not very long, a semicolon may still replace the more conventional comma if the writer wants a significant pause for emphasis or rhythm:

Children played about her; and she sang as she worked.

Rupert Brooke

So the silence appeared like Death; and now she had death in her

heart Ford Madox Ford

Run-on Sentences

A run-on sentence occurs when a semicolon has been omitted between uncoordinated independent clauses Sometimes a comma is used instead (when it is, the error is often called a

"comma fault"):

INCORRECT It was late, we went home 1

And sometimes the clauses are simply run together with no stop of any kind:

INCORRECT It was late we went home.

The most frequent cause of run-on sentences is mistaking

the function of conjunctive adverbs—such words as however,

1 Commas are sometimes effective in such cases, the so-called comma link.

Comma links are discussed on pages 286-87.

392 PUNCTUATION

nonetheless, therefore, consequently, even so, on the other hand, for example These adverbs do not join clauses

gram-matically; they only show a relationship between the ideas in the clauses In this they differ from coordinating conjunc-tions, which traditionally designate both a grammatical and a logical connection

The difference may seem arbitrary The coordinating

con-junction but and the conjunctive adverb however, for

in-stance, can be used almost interchangeably between appro-priate clauses Even so, the first is a conjunction and needs only a comma (or maybe even no stop at all); the second is

an adverb and, when it is unaccompanied by a conjunction, requires a semicolon:

It was not late, but we went home.

It was not late; however, we went home.

It would result in a run-on sentence to punctuate it like this:

INCORRECT It was late, however, we went home

Run-on sentences may be corrected in several ways, though for any given case one way will probably be best The simplest solution is to put a semicolon in the proper place Or the clauses may be joined by an appropriate coordinating con-junction accompanied by a comma (though this stop may be omitted if the clauses are short and simple) Or the two clauses may be recast as two sentences Finally, the clauses may be kept as parts of the same sentence with one being subordinated to the other, in which case a comma may or may not be needed between them Thus the run-on sentence

"The search was fruitless, the men were discouraged" can be corrected:

The search was fruitless; the men discouraged.

The search was fruitless; and the men were discouraged.

For more material and information, please visit www.tailieuduhoc.org

The search was fruitless The men were discouraged.

Because the search was fruitless the men were discouraged.

Semicolon in Lists and Series

Semicolons are conventionally used to separate all the items

in a list or series when any of the items contains a comma This is done because the presence of a comma within one or more items requires a stronger stop to signal the distinction between one unit in the series and another Look at this sen-tence about the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s:

There were other factors too: the deadly tedium of small-town life, where any change was a relief; the nature of current Protestant theology, rooted in Fundamentalism and hot with bigotry; and, not least, a native American moralistic blood lust that is half historical determinism, and half Freud Robert Coughlan

Even when a comma occurs in only one item, consistency requires that semicolons be used between all the elements of the series:

He [Huey Long] damned and insulted Bigness in all its Louisiana manifestations: Standard Oil, the state's dominant and frequently domineering industry; the big corporations; the corporation lawyers Hodding Carter

Semicolon with Subordinate Clause

Now and then a semicolon separates a main clause and a sub-ordinate one, a job conventionally assigned to the comma The stronger semicolon is helpful when the clauses contain internal commas; it more clearly signals the break between the clauses and helps the reader to follow the grammar:

He [the white policeman) moves through Harlem, therefore, like

an occupying soldier in a bitterly hostile country; which is precisely

394 PUNCTUATION

what, and where, he is, and is the reason he walks in twos and threes James Baldwin

SEMICOLON

I Between independent clauses

A Paratactic: semicolon is the conventional stop

B Coordinated: comma is conventional

semicolon is optional for clarity or emphasis

II In lists and series

Semicolon between all items when any item contains a comma

The Comma

The comma is the most frequent and the most complicated

of all marks of punctuation It is least reducible to rule and most subject to variation, depending on the need to be clear

or emphatic, the preferences of individual writers, and even fashion

D> Coordinated Independent Clauses

Coordinated elements are grammatically identical construc-tions in the same sentence joined by a coordinating

conjunc-tion (and, but, for, or, nor, and the correlatives either or,

neither nor, both and, not only but) Any part of a

sentence may be coordinated: two subjects, two verbs, two objects, two adjectivals, two adverbials, two independent clauses

As a very general rule, two coordinated independent clauses are punctuated with a comma; lesser elements, such as words, phrases, and dependent clauses, are not so punctuated But exceptions occur, depending on the length and complex-ity of the constructions Let's look at several examples Two coordinated independent clauses are usually separated

by a comma, placed immediately before the conjunction: For more material and information, please visit www.tailieuduhoc.org

It [history] is a story that cannot be told in dry lines, and its meaning cannot be conveyed in a species of geometry Herbert Butterfieid When such coordinated clauses are complicated and contain internal commas, the stronger semicolon may be used to sep-arate them, as we saw on page 282 On the other hand when they are short, obviously related, and contain no internal commas, the comma between them may be omitted:

They tried to hold him up against the wall but he sat down in a puddle of water Ernest Hemingway

The Comma Link

A comma link is a comma used between independent clauses that are paratactic—that is, not joined by one of the coordi-nating conjunctions but simply run together The semicolon

is the conventional mark in such a construction (see pages 282-83), and employing a comma is generally regarded as a fault Under certain circumstances, however, a comma may

be used between paratactic clauses (though it is never oblig-atory) The clauses must be short and simple and contain no internal stops; the relationship of ideas should be immediately clear; and the sentences should move rapidly with only light pauses:

A memoir is history, it is based on evidence E M Forster

The crisis was past, the prospects were favorable.

Samuel Hopkins Adams

When three or more such short, obviously related inde-pendent clauses are joined paratactically, comma links are even more frequent:

Some of the people said that the elephant had gone in one direc-tion, some said that he had gone in another, some professed not even to have heard of any elephant George Orwell

39» PUNCTUATION

Sheep in the pasture do not seem to fear phantom sheep beyond the fence, mice don't look for mouse goblins in the clock, birds do not worship a divine thunderbird Susanne K Langer

He becomes more callous, the population becomes more hostile, the situation grows more tense, and the police force is increased.

James Baldwin

The last sentence (about racial tensions in Harlem between white policemen and black residents) illustrates the particular advantage of comma links By allowing rapid movement from clause to clause, the punctuation reinforces our sense of the inevitability of social cause and effect

Easy rules about when a comma link is effective and when

it is a comma fault do not exist Certainly long, complicated paratactic independent clauses (especially those containing commas) ought to be punctuated by semicolons, not commas And even when the clauses are not particularly long and con-tain no commas within themselves, the relationships among ideas may not be sufficiently close and obvious to allow a comma link In this sentence, for instance, a semicolon would

be clearer:

INCORRECT We are overloaded with garbage, in fact we have so much excess garbage that it is being used to make hills to ski on.

For the inexperienced writer the safest course is to use a semi-colon between uncoordinated independent clauses unless he

or she is very sure that a comma will help the rhythm of the sentence and will not confuse the reader

As the foregoing discussion suggests, the punctuation of independent clauses is not easily explained in a simple rule Current practice is summed up in the following table:

PUNCTUATION OF INDEPENDENT CLAUSES

I When coordinated:

A Conventional punctuation: comma

For more material and information, please visit www.tailieuduhoc.org

B Optional punctuation

I Semicolon

a If the clauses are long and internally punctuated

b If—even with short clauses—a long pause is effective

2 No stop at all

If the clauses are short, unpunctuated, clearly related, and

a pause is not desirable

II When paratactic:

A Conventional punctuation: semicolon

B Optional punctuation: comma

If the clauses are short, clearly related, contain no commas, and fast movement is desirable

t> The Comma with Coordinated Elements Other Than Independent Clauses

Two coordinated subjects, verbs, objects, or modifiers are not usually punctuated:

Jack and Jill went up the hill.

NOT Jack, and Jill went up the hill.

We saw them and were surprised.

NOT We saw them, and were surprised.

He picked up his hat and books.

NOT He picked up his hat, and books.

The men were tired and discouraged.

NOT The men were tired, and discouraged.

However, commas may be helpful between the members

of such coordinated pairs when the first is long or when the writer wants a pause for emphasis Thus in the following sen-tence the comma helps the reader to distinguish the two long predicates that follow the subject ("the twentieth century"):

The twentieth century finds this explanation too vapidly common-place, and demands something more mystic George Bernard Shaw

398 PUNCTUATION

In the next examples the comma separating two coordi-nated verbs (while not necessary because of their length) gives the idea more emphasis:

We turned to them, and paused.

At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the innumerable silences of stars T E Lawrence

t> The Comma with Lists and Series

A list or series consists of three or more grammatically parallel words or constructions such as three of four subjects of the same verb, say, or three verbs of the same subject, or four or five adjectives modifying the same noun

The items in a list, or series, may be joined by coordinating conjunctions ("She bought bread and eggs and cheese") or

by parataxis ("She bought bread, eggs, cheese") The most common method is to combine parataxis and coordination,

linking the last two items with and, or, or but not, and joining

the others paratactically: "She bought bread, eggs, and cheese."

When a list or series is completely paratactic, commas are used between the items:

Oriental luxury goods, jade, silk, gold, spices, vermilion, jewels, had formerly come overland by way of the Caspian Sea

Robert Craves

When it is completely coordinated, the commas are usually omitted:

She was crying now because she remembered that her life had been

a long succession of humiliations and mistakes and pains and ri-diculous efforts jean Rhys

In the combined method (the most frequent practice), a comma goes between each pair of paratactic elements and is For more material and information, please visit www.tailieuduhoc.org

optional between the final coordinated pair, the choice de-pending on the preference of the writer or the policy of an editor The first of these examples uses the comma; the second does not:

Fifty years ago, when all type was set by hand, the labor of several men was required to print, fold, and arrange in piles the signatures

of a b o o k Carl Becker His plan was to clinch his teeth, shut his eyes, whirl the club round his head and bring it down with sickening violence in the general direction of the sphere p G Wodehouse But whether you choose to place a comma between the final coordinated items or to leave it out, you should follow the same practice consistently in any piece of writing

Finally about lists and series, remember that semicolons are conventionally used between all items when any item contains

a comma within itself

PUNCTUATING A SERIES

I Combined parataxis and coordination: commas and optional comma

bread, eggs, and cheese

II Completely paratactic: commas

bread, eggs, cheese

III Completely coordinated

A Conventional punctuation: no stops

bread and eggs and cheese

B Optional punctuation: commas for emphasis or rhythm bread, and eggs, and cheeses

IV Series with a comma in one or more items: semicolons

bread, which she found too moldy; eggs; and cheese

\> The Comma with Adjectivals

An adjectival is a word, phrase, or clause functioning as an adjective