>mfw finding a way to shoehorn a semi-colon into a sentence

>>9931738
>finding a way
It's doable literally any time you want to connect two independent sentences that discuss the same topic.

>>9931742
i get rebuked at college for using semi-colons in lists
is it dying out?

>>9931818
>college
There's your problem.

>>9931818
>lists
Wouldn't lists be dependent clauses? You're only supposed to use semi-colons to connect independent clauses i.e. complete sentences that could stand on their own.

>>9931818
this is only for lists with sub-lists
>>9931829
this is the most common use

>>9931829
i use semi colons to separate items in lists when the items contain commas. this often bamboozles my tutor

>>9931829
In order to avoid confusion, semicolons should be used in lists of items which include commas.

>>9931837
>>9931839
>>9931841
Why would you want to have a list with sub-lists in the first place? That sounds like the sort of situation where you'd want to set aside a separate section to write about each sub-list instead of trying to cram it all into a single multi-layer clusterfuck.

>>9931855
two coats, one black, one blue; two pairs of shoes, one black, one brown; one pair of sock, argyle; three shirts, white.

>>9931855
I didn't say it was good practice.

>>9931855
my sister; my mum; my brother, the one who lives in gook; my dad and my handsome son, David

File: 12b0ea53a7512cb99a8d472bed8addd1.jpg (27KB, 600x473px) Image search: [Google]

27KB, 600x473px

>>9931861
What the fuck is this phrasing

>one pair of sock, argyle
>three shirts, white

are you fucking Captain Picard or some shit?

>>9933562
Say that sentence out loud. If you were describing a list of items like that it would be something very much similar to how its written there. People talk in run-on sentences.

Reminded me of this (almost exactly the same types of lists as that sentence). Skip to 2:30:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A-wWnnYyK8

>>9931829
you can also use semi-colons as "super" commas

Read Henrich Von Kleist if you want to see some autistic sentence structure. Lots of semi-colons

>>9933669
The famous first sentence of the Marquise of O:

In M—, an important town in northern Italy, the widowed Marquise of O—, a lady of unblemished reputation and the mother of several well-brought-up children, inserted thefollowing announcement in the newspapers: that she had, without knowledge of the cause, come to find herself in a certain situation; that she would like the father of the child she was expecting to disclose his identity to her; and that she was resolved, out of consideration for her family, to marry him.

File: plain mask.jpg (166KB, 600x600px) Image search: [Google]

166KB, 600x600px

>mfw I have to make do with a comma and compromise clarity instead of using a semi-colon in order not to look pretentious

>>9933763
I know this feel.

I recently revised a short story of mine and I'm pretty sure I converted 90% of my semi-colons into commas.

>>9933562
I laughed.