I made it a career goal to never use a semi-colon in professional writing. 250+ peer reviewed articles, several lay pieces, hundreds of blog posts, and a James Beard nominated book later and if you find a semicolon it was added during copyediting. - ThreadSky

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stephenlyman.bsky.social • 13 days ago

I made it a career goal to never use a semi-colon in professional writing. 250+ peer reviewed articles, several lay pieces, hundreds of blog posts, and a James Beard nominated book later and if you find a semicolon it was added during copyediting.

Reposted from EngLangBlog

Some language change in action?
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Comments

davidwondrich.bsky.social•13 days ago

Just as a counterweight, I use ‘em by the bucketful and it doesn’t seem to have held me back too much.

stephenlyman.bsky.social•13 days ago

We all have our foibles.

davidwondrich.bsky.social•13 days ago

I like a complex sentence. What can I say.

stephenlyman.bsky.social•13 days ago

I’m more Hemingwayesque.

davidwondrich.bsky.social•13 days ago

We all have our foibles, as a wise man once told me.

somewherein.jp•13 days ago

I think I end up using about one semicolon per year. I don't like them and actively avoid them.

Wild horses couldn't drag me away from the Oxford comma, however. To that I am fully committed.

stephenlyman.bsky.social•13 days ago

Agreed on the Oxford comma. My most common comment to trainees who I mentor when reading their manuscripts.

“Embrace the Oxford comma. Precision matters in scientific writing.”

Only the dim ones skip it on the rewrite.

somewherein.jp•13 days ago

Excellent.

One of my favorite classes in university was a journalism course called "precision language." My professor was a stickler for all the stuff that actually mattered. 25 years later and I can still hear her in my head when I'm editing.

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