5 ms·
I quite entertained the same point of view of the author about semicolons. The best use of them is when they're used sparingly, hence carrying more precise weig
by lloeki 8y ago
I quite entertained the same point of view of the author about semicolons. The best use of them is when they're used sparingly, hence carrying more precise weight and meaning.
Now there is something quite peculiar about that punctuation mark's naming, which has some dissonant trait of causality (what colons are used for), and always found the French name "point-virgule" (period-comma) much more apt.
- ModernMech 8y agoThe naming fits if you think about the implications of the mark on the flow of a sentence. A colon is a pretty hard stop when I read, while a comma is barely a pause. A semicolon is in between the two; you don't stop as long as the colon, but you pause a little longer than a comma (did I use it correctly? ;P )
- ChristianBundy 8y agoIs there any chance you're mistaking a "colon" for a full stop (period)?
- ModernMech 8y agoMy precedence order is (!|.|?) > : > ; > ,
- whatshisface 8y agoI pause longer for colons than for periods. Colons are less common and often join what are really two sentences, meaning something like "read this sentence in the context of what was said in the first."
- vorg 8y agoIt took a few moments to realize you mean: To me, exclamation mark, full stop and question mark are of equal precedence; they are higher than colon, which is higher than semi-colon, and that is higher than comma.
- ModernMech 8y agoSorry, I didn't provide a parser for my syntax :P