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In a list or sequence, if even one item needs its own internal comma, use of the semicolon as the separator throughout that list is justified, as shown by this example from the California Penal Code: A crime or public offense is an act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it, and to which is annexed, upon ...
Ambiguities can often be resolved by the selective use of semicolons instead of commas when more separation is required. [38] General practice across style guides involves using semicolons when individual items have their own punctuation or coordinating conjunctions, but typically a "serial semicolon" is required. [39]
Items may be given with initial lowercase or in sentence case. No final punctuation is used in most cases. Semicolons may be used when the list is short, items are lowercase, and the entire list forms a complete sentence (typically with its introductory phrase and possibly with a closing phrase after the list to complete the sentence).
The semicolon is the comma's first cousin, but it works a little bit harder; it also makes you look smarter. The post Here’s When You Should Use a Semicolon appeared first on Reader's Digest.
If a sentence contains a bracketed phrase, place the sentence punctuation outside the brackets (as shown here). However, where one or more sentences are wholly inside brackets, place their punctuation inside the brackets. There should be no space next to the inner side of a bracket. An opening bracket should usually be preceded by a space.
As in the second of the two examples below, if a semicolon separates the two sentences and the second sentence starts with an adverb, this adverb is preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma. In this sentence, furthermore, commas would also be called for. This sentence is a bit different; however, a comma is necessary as well.
Punctuation in the English language helps the reader to understand a sentence through visual means other than just the letters of the alphabet. [1] English punctuation has two complementary aspects: phonological punctuation, linked to how the sentence can be read aloud, particularly to pausing; [2] and grammatical punctuation, linked to the structure of the sentence. [3]
A stylistic depiction of values inside of a so-named comma-separated values (CSV) text file. The commas (shown in red) are used as field delimiters. A delimiter is a sequence of one or more characters for specifying the boundary between separate, independent regions in plain text, mathematical expressions or other data streams.