Janet Byron Anderson, the author of The Vocabula Review, discusses the merits and demerits of using a semi-colon in literature. In her article, The Enigmatic Semicolon, Anderson starts by describing the fascination human beings have over hybrid beasts and mythology. She uses the mermaid, a sensuous woman with muscular fish resemblance below. According to myth, the mermaid lures sailors with lovely songs, which makes them forget what they are doing and jump off the deck only to drown. Similarly, the semicolon tends to have comparable psychological influence, whereby a writer feels the urge to use it but fears that the reader might not understand their sentence. According to Anderson, most writers deliberately avoid using semicolons in their publications and opt to either use a comma or start another sentence. For instance, George Orwell and Kurt Vonnegut despise the use of semicolons in any publication, since they feel the punctuation represents ‘nothing’ in the work. Others believe that they are instrumental pieces in a publication as they bring formality to sentences. However, they advise one to use semicolons sparingly, since they are optional punctuation marks.
Anderson provides some illustrations and examples of the semicolon in sentences. To him, writers use the semicolon as an expendable in sentences instead of using full stops. However, one has to look for the best prose to use it in. The semicolon does not have an existential value as it relies on an individual’s taste on whether two independent clauses require it or stand out by themselves. A semicolon offer little clarity in prescriptive accounts, as it does not define its precise nature. Depending on whether the narration is through silent reading or writing, the semicolon might lack a distinctive nature. Lastly, the semicolon’s actual usage might show a wider range of its functions in sentences. Consequently, one needs to observe and understand different sentence structures to learn the power of a semicolon. Anderson concludes the article by stating that the current age is impatient in reading or crafting long documents, making the semicolon inappropriate for use in literature.
Work Cited
Anderson, Janet Byron. The Enigmatic Semicolon. July 2009. Web. 25 January 2016. < http://www.medlinguistics.com/EnigmaticSemicolon.asp >
