Semicolons; or, The Winking Mark
Semicolons, when they’re not winking at you, can be a useful punctuation mark. Some writers are fans of the mark; others could do without it. But whatever you think of semicolons, it can be helpful to know how they’re used.
Take the quiz to test your semicolon knowledge (and, perhaps, to learn more).
Subscribers to The Chicago Manual of Style Online may click through to the linked sections of the Manual (cited in most of the answers). (For a 30-day free trial of CMOS Online, click here.)
Note: Style guides sometimes disagree. Except for a few details that can be verified in standard dictionaries and encyclopedias and other readily available sources, the answers in this quiz rely on the information in the 17th edition of CMOS.
Chicago Style Workout 64: Semicolons
Top image: Microsoft’s Segoe UI Emoji font rendering of Winking Face (eyes and eyebrows replaced for post with a Calibri semicolon rotated ninety degrees counterclockwise).
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