The age-old semicolon is dying out as Britons admit to never or rarely using the punctuation mark. In English-written 19th century literature it appeared once in every 205 words, but today it is down ...

Love or detest it, the semicolon is the most divisive punctuation mark of the modern era. Should we even care? The History Of The Semicolon (And ... How To Use It) With Meghna Chakrabarti Love or ...

Most of us are familiar with “Boomer ellipses,” or the ominous ”...” some texters use in place of a full stop or comma. Even double spacing can reveal your age; older typists prefer it, especially ...

It's divisive; it cleaves; it drives some people crazy. The writer Kurt Vonnegut said of the semicolon: It's showy; it's chiefly used to show you've been to college. More than two-thirds of young ...

Do you know how to use a semicolon correctly? Even if you think you do, are you sure? That odd cross between a colon and a comma may be the most frequently misused and misunderstood punctuation mark ...

When you’re learning to type, the first lesson is the home-row position — the keys where your fingers rest: a s d f j k l ;. Learning this, you might naturally assume that the semicolon is pretty ...

Forget black rhinos and the Amazon rainforest: there’s something arguably just as precious joining the endangered species list, only this time, it’s a grammatical rather than biological extinction ...

Writers and editors don’t always agree; really, they don’t. There was a time, years ago, when I was an editor at the now defunct Times-Union that I made some changes — necessary, I’m sure — to a story ...

Editor’s note: This segment was rebroadcast on Jan. 2, 2026. Click here for that audio. The semicolon has been described as a “graceful pause” in writing. But this graceful punctuation mark is being ...