I’ve gone soft on semicolons. For years, my position on these strange little squiggles has been as follows: I hate them. I have good reason. Semicolons don’t come up much in my editing work. Most ...

Here’s a fun thing you can do with your writing: Take any two simple, clear sentences and use a semicolon to mush them into one. For example, imagine you have a paragraph with just two sentences. “The ...

If you stare down at the semicolon key in fear, unsure of what power might be released if you press it, never fear. This video eloquently explains how to unleash the semicolon’s power correctly. Is it ...

There are very few opportunities in life to have it both ways; semicolons are the rare instance in which you can; there is absolutely no downside. By Lauren Oyler For several years I have returned, ...

In Kurt Vonnegut’s 2005 essay collection A Man Without a Country, he includes the following message on punctuation: Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are ...

Ever since Kurt Vonnegut slandered semicolons (“They are transvestite hermaphrodites,” he said, “representing absolutely nothing”), aspiring writers have looked upon them with a mixture of confusion ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The church publishes the ...

A recent study has found a 50% decline in the use of semicolons over the last two decades. The decline accelerates a longterm trend: In 1781, British literature featured a semicolon roughly every 90 ...