Quote:
Originally Posted by BookCat
I hate being pedantic, but I think that semi-colon would be better replaced by a colon, as it indicates a list is on it's way.
"Hanging above them were two moons: one red, one blue."
I tend to use semi colons to indicate a pause half a beat longer than a comma. A full stop would end the sentence, therefore the arc of the thought; I think.
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I find recent usage in trad published novels interesting on this point. I have frequently found a sentence which I would "conclude" with a colonbut which is instead ended with a period. In the list presented afterwards then each element is presented as its own complete thought. For example: She often thought about her wounded brethren. The happy horseman. The slogging groundsman. The terrified lout.
I've seen this done time and again in a popular series I recently read--and loved. So what ARE the rules today? How does an Indie Author cope? To wirte the above segment the way the author I read did would leave me, as an Indie Author, subject to grammatical derision in online reviews. What? Help! Am I to be banned a beautiful construction by being labeled an Indie Author?