Punctuation1.5 Revision of commas
The commas have beenremovedfromthefollow ing text ,
a t rue storytold and illustratedby Ralph Steadman. Put
thecommasback in the text.Charles Cha rleswo rth WhoDiedofOld Age
at the Ageof Seven,T heageingprocessaffec ts us all atdiffer entrates.Some
peo ple of 53 likethees tee med author looka mere 35 wit h
sparkling brow neyesand ahandsome gait. Others like the
aut hor'sfrien d Colin look like little middle-a gedmenat 2 1
with middle -aged o utloo kssetw ays and plannedfutures.
Inwomenthe former condition is common but women
rarely suffer fromthe latter beingfiredwith the insatiable
dri ve of ambition fore it heran indep endentand distin-
g uished caree rin a still male -d om inate d wo r ld or aho me
andseven chil d ren by the time theyare30.
No s uch lock for Charles Cha rlesworth who wasborn
o n the 14thof Marc h 1 82 9 inStaffo rd.A t the ageof four
Charles hada be ard andw assexua lly mature.
Inthe final threeyea rs of his life his skinwrinkled and
he de veloped var icoseveinssho rtnessofbreath grey hair
se nile dem entia and inc on tinen ce .Sometime in his
seventhyearhe faintedand ne ve rre gained consci o usness.
The co roner re turned a verdictofnatural causes due to
old age.34 • Writingsub-ski lls
C Semicolons
To loseone pa rent,JU r\Vo rthillg,mayhe regardedas a
misfortune; to loseb othlooks likecarelessn ess.
Oscar Wilde
Donothe afraidofthesemicolon; it cmlb emost nsejnl.
SirErnestCowe rs1.0 Joining sentences
Whentw o sentencesarevery closelyconnected in
meaning, a semicolon can be usedin the place of a full
stop.
In which t hreeof the examplesbelow might a semicolon
be preferred to thefull stop?
1 Neuroticme n, from LordByrontoC'.lI)'Grant, hav e
been admire d fo r dominating the ir condition.Neurotic
wo men, notablyMar ilynMonroe ,havebeenadmired for
sur rendering toit.
2 Sir John wasfound g uiltyof dri \in g withdoublethe
legallimitofalco hol in hisbloodst ream.'Yo u arc a very
foolish man', saidthe judge, ' hut on thi s occasionJshall
turn ablin deyeto YOllrfolly.'
3 Atabouttwo in the morning, thelastc usto mersle ftthe
har.The nex tclay,Jwas awaken ede arlyhy the sound of
laughteroutsi de my window.
4 Inwin t er,I hring thegeraniums into thehouse .All the
otherplant s I l e aveoutside.
S The strongkept 011 walking untilthey reach ed the safety
ofthe woods.The weak stopped to resthy the side of
the road.
6 Itwasgood to he inItal y at last.My g rand moth e r had
travelleda lot in Europe , hot the rest of the family had
little orno curiosit yaboutthe OldWo rld.1 .1 Lists
Semicolons arealsousedto separate itemsin a liston
occasionsw herecommaswould make thelist
ambiguous or difficult to read.
The C h ri sti neNielse nis the mostsuccessjul boatfishing
fromNorth Shie lds. The wheelhouseis like a videoarcade:
thereis screel1ajterscreenofcolouredlights; sonar
equip me nt bleepsanrlp ings;radarfillger.scircleendlessly ;
the p r int-outinf o rma tio1lmachine chatters tll/;ayto itself.
Pet e r Mortimer ,The LastoftheHunters
CouldYOllget me akiloofp otatoes,ti cosahnonstealcs,50 0g
ofpasta(spaghettiorjarfalle) tuu!sometlti1lgfresh to make
a hig salad?
Not e the use ofthecolonin the first exampleto
int roducea list,also used in 1 and 3 below.