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Right use of semicolon?

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Believer  #232016  Sat, 03 Jun 06 09:18 AM

Hi,

 I got this sentence from this forum and have been sitting in the state of befuddlement for a while, and it prompted me to pose this question.

 Is this a right use of a colon or more simply, is this a right sentence (except for the capitalization of the first word)?

generally speaking that might be fine, but I was stumped; it seemed so subjective.  

  
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Mister Micawber  #232022  Sat, 03 Jun 06 09:36 AM

but I was stumped; it seemed so subjective

The punctuation enclosed therein is a semicolon, and it is used correctly.  The sentence is fine.


  
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Marius Hancu  #232050  Sat, 03 Jun 06 11:42 AM
Yes, the sentences are independent/self-standing enough.
  
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Believer  #232061  Sat, 03 Jun 06 12:17 PM

Thank you.

Let me rewrite my original question with proper articles:

Is this the right use of a (semi, sorry)colon or more simply, is this the right sentence?

OK, going back to the original tract, I am use to seeing semicolons being used with two independent but linked-in-content sentences, and the sentence stated in the origial post had three clauses (I think) with the second clause being connected with the conjunction "but."  Do you think it is a good sentence that demonstrates a good use of a semicolon?

Generally speaking that might be fine, but I was stumped; it seemed so subjective

  
Marius Hancu  #232066  Sat, 03 Jun 06 12:23 PM
Generally speaking that might be fine, but I was stumped; it seemed so subjective.

In such cases I think you could find a comma or a semi-colon, depending on how much break/pause the virtual reporter / the author would like to use.
  
Clive  #232254  Sun, 04 Jun 06 02:21 AM

Hi,

I'd just like to add my usual recommendation that semi-colons should be used very seldom. A sentence like this seems to me rather trite for the use of one.  

If you make two sentences, the pronoun 'it' seems to tie the second one to the first one adequately.

Best wishes, Clive

  
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Anonymous  #281798  Mon, 16 Oct 06 06:34 PM
Wouldn't that be seldomly? Wink [;)]
  
J Lewis  #281808  Mon, 16 Oct 06 06:52 PM
Not "seldomly"; seldom is already an adverb. There's no such adjective.

Generally speaking that might be fine, but I was stumped; it seemed so subjective.

I disagree with Marius that a comma is appropriate here. I'd say

... I was stumped; it seemed so subjective.
... I was stumped
. It seemed so subjective.
... I was stumped, because it seemed so subjective.

The semicolon is a "light" full stop/period. It's more a question of style which of the two you use. In the English-speaking world the semi-colon is used a lot less nowadays or is often substituted by a dash, which personally I don't like as people use also for the colon and no longer know the difference (of course in informal writing we use commas all over the place).
  
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