I have interacted with those who hire in the business world and was
surprised (and delighted) to learn that some of them actually look for
properly used semicolons as a hiring guideline. Given that only have so
many times are available for interviews and all candidates appear to be
equally qualified, the applicant using a semicolon correctly will be invited
for an interview over one who didn't use a semicolon at all. "A mature
piece of punctuation"--I love that description!
In my business writing and grammar workshops, I teach the three ways to
write a compound sentence (comma with coordinating conjunction, just the
semicolon, and the semicolon followed by a conjunctive adverb and a comma).
Then, I have the participants write sentences illustrating those and read
them aloud to the class. Most of them write excellent sentences, and they
are so pleased with themselves! I'm a big fan of explaining a concept and
then having them practice it. As a colleague of mine is fond of saying,
"Practice makes permanent."
Linda
Linda Comerford
317.786.6404
[log in to unmask]
www.comerfordconsulting.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Larry Beason
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 1:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: NYTimes opinion piece on semicolons
The writer of this NY Times articles notes that people don't use semicolons
because they were never taught how, but I'm not sure I agree. Maybe they
just think they don't know how.
Things might be different now, but in the late 1980's I did a study at one
university about students' use of semicolons. The long and short of it is
that the vast majority of students and teachers believed freshmen could not
use a semicolon correctly. Odd thing is that when I required these students
to try to use a semicolon correctly, close to 80% did so--even though most
did not think they were correct. What's more, most could even provide an
accurate rule for the major use of a semicolon (to divide main clauses).
Again, this might not be the same situation nowadays, but I suspect many
people can use a semicolon but are so uncertain (perhaps because of
teachers' doubts about students' ability?) that they don't try. Or maybe
they are confused about the more complex use of a semicolon to separate
items in complex lists.
I avoided them myself as a student until I was in a junior-level Shakespeare
class, and my teacher told me I received an A because I used the semicolon
correctly--a "mature piece of punctuation" as he put it. I provided him
with many semicolons thereafter. :-)
Larry Beason
____________________________
Larry Beason, Associate Professor
Director of Composition
University of South Alabama
Mobile, AL 36688-0002
251-460-7861
>>> "Spruiell, William C" <[log in to unmask]> 02/21/08 4:22 PM >>>
There was a piece in the Times a few days ago on semicolons, and I thought
it might be useful for class discussions. The Times came out from behind its
paywall a while ago, so its site is useful again (link pasted below).
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/nyregion/18semicolon.html?em&ex=120374
2800&en=2f33d339a23e01ab&ei=5087%0A
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