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Semicolons and Spanish Real Estate

This description of a two-million-dollar loft in Barcelona provides a good example of when to use a semicolon rather than a colon: “The windows are also original, as are the wooden-beamed ceilings; in the main living area, they are 16 feet high.” – Virginia C. McGuire, “”House Hunting in … Barcelona,” New York Times, Aug

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

Semicolons and a Strapless Vera Wang

This whirlwind summary of Chelsea Clinton’s wedding shows a good use for semicolons: “The Wedding of the Year is over, and what have we learned? There was an interfaith ceremony; Bill lost the required weight, and then some; the cake was gluten-free.” – Sally Law, “Personal Style,” The New Yorker, August 2, 2010 Semicolons are a polished way to connect two or more parts of a sentence that don’t have a clear logical connection. You use a colon instead of a semicolon when the connecting logic is obvious – e

Attention Spans and Writing Skills

Here are two writing techniques to keep your reader’s attention. A blogger recommends strategies to improve “attention fitness” in “How to Rebuild Your Attention Span and Focus” (lifehacker.com, July 27, 2010)

Preventing Typos in Revised Text

Here’s a technique for avoiding typos, and two illustrations of how errors can pop up in carelessly revised text. The New York Times ran an online article and slideshow this week with two errors that probably came from careless text revisions: 1. 2
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