August 12, 2010

Cause, Effect, and the Semicolon

Here’s a great use of a semicolon to describe changes in the Supreme Court.

James Fallows points out that from 1789 “until 1970, the average tenure of a justice was under 15 years; since then, it’s over 26 years.”

– from “Modest Proposal: Fixed Tenure for the Supreme Court,”

the Atlantic, Aug. 7, 2010

Fallows describes the reasons for this change in other sentences. (Compared to previous centuries, justices are now younger when they join the court, and they live longer.)

A colon would be correct if this sentence showed cause and effect: “Change was inevitable: a new situation would emerge.”

The semicolon is perfect here since Fallows is simply saying, “This is how it used to be; things are different now.”

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