Writers and editors don’t always agree; really, they don’t. There was a time, years ago, when I was an editor at the now defunct Times-Union that I made some changes — necessary, I’m sure — to a story ...

Love or detest it, the semicolon is the most divisive punctuation mark of the modern era. Should we even care? "His kiss was like a flash of lightning; when it was dark again she was free." From the ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Illustrations by It's divisive; it cleaves; it drives some people crazy. The writer Kurt Vonnegut said of the semicolon: It's ...

The semicolon is used to indicate a pause, usually between two main clauses, that needs to be more pronounced than the pause of a comma. The hybrid between a colon and a comma, it is often considered ...

Editor’s note: This segment was rebroadcast on Jan. 2, 2026. Click here for that audio. The semicolon has been described as a “graceful pause” in writing. But this graceful punctuation mark is being ...

If you spend time on the internet, you will witness grammar arguments—namely, the importance of correct grammar to some and their ire at those who use it incorrectly. From memes to Facebook posts to ...

Love or detest it, the semicolon is the most divisive punctuation mark of the modern era. Should we even care? “In any case, I had been part-time for a while, coming into the publishing house one day ...

It's divisive; it cleaves; it drives some people crazy. The writer Kurt Vonnegut said of the semicolon: It's showy; it's chiefly used to show you've been to college. More than two-thirds of young ...

Cecelia Watson, author of “Semicolon: The Past, Present and Future of a Misunderstood Mark.” Historian and philosopher of science. Faculty member in Bard College’s Language and Thinking program.

Both this vulnerable semicolon and the racehorse semicolon we looked at prior to it are “illegal.” A semicolon, The Chicago Manual of Style opines, is to be used either when the items in a list are ...