Latest news with #LisaMcLendon
Times
22-05-2025
- Science
- Times
Writers and students break with the use of semicolons
Is it the ultimate expression of grammatical mastery; the sign of a writer trying too hard to look clever; or a pointless anachronism that deserves to fade into long-overdue obscurity? However it is used, the semicolon splits a study has found a marked decline in their use. In books written in English, in 2000 it appeared once in every 205 words; today it is down to one in every 390 words. The study by Lisa McLendon, author of The Perfect English Grammar Workbook, found that 67 per cent of British students never or rarely used a semicolon and only 11 per cent of respondents described themselves as frequent users. • Learning with AI creates textbook model of growth at Pearson Babbel, the
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Experts reveal semicolons are at risk of dying out; do YOU know how to use the once-popular punctuation mark?
The age-old semicolon is dying out as Britons admit to never or rarely using the punctuation mark, a study has found. In English-written 19th century literature it appeared once in every 205 words, but today it is down to one in every 390 words. The survey found that 67 per cent of British students never or rarely used a semicolon and only 11 per cent of respondents described themselves as frequent users. While more than half of respondents did not know or understand how to use the punctuation marl correctly. A semicolons use is to connect two parts of a sentence where a conjunction is omitted, such as 'The cat sat on the mat; the mice watched from behind the sofa'. It should be used between two main clauses that balance each other—or contradict each other—but are too closely linked to be written as separate sentences. The MailOnline style guide advises it is mainly used in lists (eg 'The band's unusual backstage requests included: only green M&Ms waitresses dressed as Stormtroopers; and a retired astronaut'). The last item is preceded by a semicolon and has the word 'and' at the beginning. Lisa McLendon authored the research and wrote an entire book dedicated to the punctuation: Semicolon: How a Misunderstood Punctuation Mark Can Improve Your Writing, Enrich Your Reading and Even Change Your Life. She said: 'The semicolon is a place where our anxieties and our aspirations about language, class and education are concentrated. 'In this small mark, big ideas are distilled down to a few winking drops of ink.' Esteemed 20th century feminist author Virginia Woolf famously opened her modern classic Mrs Dalloway with a plethora of semicolons. While American author Kurt Vonnegut has called to abolish the punctuation mark: 'If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be a homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts. But do not use semicolons. 'They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.' The semicolon originated in Venice in 1494, invented by the printer and publisher Aldus Manutius. It was designed as a hybrid punctuation mark to combine elements of a comma and a colon in order to to represent a pause that fell between the length of a comma and a colon.
The Guardian
18-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Marked decline in semicolons in English books, study suggests
'Do not use semicolons,' wrote Kurt Vonnegut, who averaged fewer than 30 a novel (about one every 10 pages). 'All they do is show you've been to college.' A study suggests UK authors are taking Vonnegut's advice to heart; the semicolon seems to be in terminal decline, with its usage in English books plummeting by almost half in two decades – from one appearing in every 205 words in 2000 to one use in every 390 words today. Further research by Lisa McLendon, author of The Perfect English Grammar Workbook, found 67% of British students never or rarely use the semicolon. Just 11% of respondents described themselves as frequent users. Linguistic experts at the language learning software Babbel, which commissioned the original research, were so struck by their findings that they asked McLendon to give the 500,000-strong London Student Network a 10-question multiple-choice quiz on the semicolon. She found more than half of respondents did not know or understand how to use it. As defined by the Oxford Dictionary of English, the semicolon is 'a punctuation mark indicating a pause, typically between two main clauses, that is more pronounced than that indicated by a comma'. It is commonly used to link together two independent but related clauses, and is particularly useful for juxtaposition or replacing confusing extra commas in lists where commas already exist – or where a comma would create a splice. It first appeared in the work of Italian scholar and printer Aldus Pius Manutius the Elder in 1494 but, despite its longevity, has long been marmite grammar. Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, has castigated it as 'dangerously habit-forming'. She added: 'Many writers hooked on semicolons become an embarrassment to their families and friends.' Truss is not alone in her antipathy: Goosebumps, RL Stine's classic horror series for children, has one semicolon for every 200,000 words. Cormac McCarthy used 42 semicolons in his first book, The Orchard Keeper – but then just one across his next nine novels. EL James was criticised for repeatedly using commas inaccurately instead of semicolons in her Fifty Shades trilogy. But the form of punctuation also has its staunch supporters: along with Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Jane Austen, Abraham Lincoln stood strong on the issue. 'I have a great respect for the semicolon; it's a very useful little chap,' he said. Virginia Woolf relied heavily on the semicolon in her novel-length meditation on time, Mrs Dalloway; the book includes more than 1,000 to echo its hero's flow of conscious thought. Nor could Salman Rushdie, John Updike and Donna Tartt have reached the literary heights that they have achieved without the help of an average of 300 semicolons for 100,000 words each. But to paraphrase the semicolon-supporting Twain, reports of 'useful little chap's' death might have been greatly exaggerated: Google Books Ngram Viewer, which includes novels, nonfiction, and even scientific literature, shows that semicolon use in English rose by 388% between 1800 and 2006, before falling by 45% over the next 11 years. In 2017, however, it started a gradual recovery, with a 27% rise by 2022. Perhaps, therefore, it will not be Vonnegart who wins out in the battle of the semicolon, but the rash, witty, louche Camille Desmoulins, as recreated by Hilary Mantel. In her novel A Place Of Greater Safety, Mantel imagined the politician, writer and best-known journalist of the French revolution having no doubts about it at all: 'I wonder why I ever bothered with sex,' she quotes him as saying. 'There's nothing in this breathing world so gratifying as an artfully placed semicolon.''
