Semicolons Get Their Due!
Californian Jeff Rubin [the founder] and Norma Martinez-Rubin -- they both live in Contra Costa County -- have designated Monday (Sept. 24) as National Punctuation Day: a celebration of colons; apostrophes; brackets; and 10 other punctuation marks. What is it? The day is to "reinforce important punctuation lessons" for the nation's children.
Their program of educational materials utilizes interactive games, raps and other activities to teach elementary school kids how to use punctuation properly. With the materials, teachers receive tools and classroom aids ... for the classroom, according to Rubin's Web site.
Comments
How ironic. One of the rules of using semicolons is that you don't use them to separate elements in a series unless it's especially long or complex (the elements have internal punctuation, for example). Otherwise, you should use a comma.
Here's an example of when to use semicolons to separate elements in a series:
He was born in Long Beach, California; moved to Lubbock, Texas, after he married; and retired to Orlando, Florida.
Posted by: Ron Gee | September 23, 2007 4:59 PM