independent clause after a semicolon

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Believer

#348946 Tue, 10 Apr 07 02:01 AM

Hi,

Please let me know if there can be any internal punctuation marks (as long as it is appropriate) in the clause that follows a semicolon.

We need to change; changes are to come in three areas of our operation: operational, administrative and finance.

Believer

Joined on Mon, Jan 2 2006

Contributing Member (1,969)

Punctuation, Clauses, Colons, Semicolons

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Philip

#348948 Tue, 10 Apr 07 02:07 AM

Believer wrote:

Hi,

Please let me know if there can be any internal punctuation marks (as long as it is appropriate) in the clause that follows a semicolon.

We need to change; changes are to come in three areas of our operation: operational, administrative and finance.

It's a little unusual, but not wrong, to have the 'colon' part of the sentence following the 'semicolon' part -- it seems a little unbalanced. I think your sentence can be improved by the following. We need to make some changes, which will come in three areas of our operation: operational, administrative and financial. [I made the third area an adjective to match the other two areas: an example of parallel structure.]

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,181)

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Punctuation, Clauses, Colons, Semicolons

Clive

#349044 Tue, 10 Apr 07 07:17 AM

Hi,

Another approach is to simply use two sentences, and thus avoid this punctuation problem. This will also make it a little easier for the reader to see your meaning.

We need to make changes. These are to come in three areas of our operation: operational, administrative and financial.

By the way, it's not great style to say you are going to make changes in the operational area of your operation.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (21,169)

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Punctuation, Clauses

Philip

#349051 Tue, 10 Apr 07 07:40 AM

Clive wrote:

Hi,

Another approach is to simply use two sentences, and thus avoid this punctuation problem. This will also make it a little easier for the reader to see your meaning.

We need to make changes. These are to come in three areas of our operation: operational, administrative and financial.

By the way, it's not great style to say you are going to make changes in the operational area of your operation.

Best wishes, Clive

It does sound a bit repetitive, redundant, etc.

Philip

Punctuation, Clauses