3 ms·

I'm not normally a grammar pedant, but i had to reread the first two opening paragraphs several times before I understood what was going on: > The New America

I'm not normally a grammar pedant, but i had to reread the first two opening paragraphs several times before I understood what was going on: > The New America Foundation has received more than $21 million from Google; its parent company’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt; and his family’s foundation since the think tank’s founding in 1999. Semicolons aren't glorified commas. Stop it. Bad! Bad! :-p

darrenf 9y ago
Semicolons are valid (especially) when the list items themselves contain commas - such as "its parent company's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt".
davidmr 9y ago
The comma in the second element allows—I would even say requires—one to separate elements of a list with semicolons. I don’t have a copy of the NYT Style Guide, but I just consulted my Chicago Style guide, and it is explicitly permitted. Grammarians have spoken!
- sfgjsdf 9y ago
  You have to admit that it's a confusing sentence though!
  - davidmr 9y ago
    I absolutely do. I probably would have worded it differently.
cjbillington 9y ago
The Oatmeal isn't necessarily an authority, but explicitly lists "use semicolons as a super comma!" as one of their uses: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon