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.
All of these and under some de-
gree of 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-

1. Commas are sometimes effective in such cases, the so-called comma link.
Comma links are discussed on pages 286-87.
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PUNCTUATION
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

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
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394 PUNCTUATION
what, and where, he is, and is the reason he walks in twos and
threes. James Baldwin
SEMICOLON
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.
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 or,
nor, both ... and, not but). Any part of a
sentence may be coordinated: two subjects, two verbs, two
objects, two adjectivals, two adverbials, two independent

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
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