Lucas21c Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
',' and ';'
Hi,
I am not familiar with comma and semicolon. So, I am not sure which one of the following sentences is right.
Could you check them and tell me which one is fine?
If all of them are not good, please correct it.
Thank you.
1. Diplomacy instead of military actions, quality of life instead of economy, and culture instead of science; the soft power becomes more and more important.
1'. The soft power; diplomacy instead of military actions, quality of life instead of economy, and culture instead of science becomes more and more important.
I am not familiar with comma and semicolon. So, I am not sure which one of the following sentences is right.
Could you check them and tell me which one is fine?
If all of them are not good, please correct it.
Thank you.
1. Diplomacy instead of military actions, quality of life instead of economy, and culture instead of science; the soft power becomes more and more important.
1'. The soft power; diplomacy instead of military actions, quality of life instead of economy, and culture instead of science becomes more and more important.
Top answer
Hi, I am not familiar with comma and semicolon. So, I am not sure which one of the following sentences is right. Could you check them and tell me which one is fine?
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Hi,
I am not familiar with comma and semicolon. So, I am not sure which one of the following sentences is right.
Could you check them and tell me which one is fine?
If all of them are not good, please correct it.
Thank you.
1. Diplomacy instead of military actions, quality of life instead of economy, and culture in
I am not familiar with comma and semicolon. So, I am not sure which one of the following sentences is right.
Could you check them and tell me which one is fine?
If all of them are not good, please correct it.
Thank you.
1. Diplomacy instead of military actions, quality of life instead of economy, and culture in
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Personally, I would have used semicolons instead of commas because it is a complex list that is being presented:
Soft power, consisting of diplomacy instead of military actions; quality of life instead of economy; and culture instead of science; is becoming more and more important.
Just my personal preference; I think it also works with commas.
Soft power, consisting of diplomacy instead of military actions; quality of life instead of economy; and culture instead of science; is becoming more and more important.
Just my personal preference; I think it also works with commas.
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None of the items in the list have internal commas, so the semi-colons are not needed to separate them. In any case, there should not be a list separator (comma or semi-colon) after the last item, before the verb.
Seems like a good time for em-dahses to me.
Soft power—diplomacy instead of military actions, quality of life instead of economy, and culture instead of science—
Seems like a good time for em-dahses to me.
Soft power—diplomacy instead of military actions, quality of life instead of economy, and culture instead of science—
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Yes, you're right about the last semi-colon. My mistake. I did a <CTRL> Z to undo it. I thought it worked: obviously it didn't. 
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