Influence of Algol 68 doesn't even really explains requirement of semicolons (or equivalently, new lines) in weird places. while false do echo 1 done i

Influence of Algol 68 doesn't even really explains requirement of semicolons (or equivalently, new lines) in weird places. while false do echo 1 done if false then echo 1 fi argubaly should just work, the presence of do/then/done/fi keywords makes semicolons quite superfluous yet the correct forms are while false ; do echo 1 ; done if false ; then echo 1 ; fi Which is strange, because Algol's grammar actually prohibits ; before ELSE, FI, and OD keywords yet the Bourne shell requires them!