The Word Cloud

I ask this question because I am giving myself a refresher course by working through The Penguin Guide to Punctuation.

Section 4.2 The Semicolon
(It says) It is used to join two complete sentences into a single sentence.
I think I understand the conditions for a semicolon's use so I shalln't go into that here. I am more concerned with the complete sentence side of things.
The book gives examples of incorrect and correct usage.

Incorrect - We've had streams of books on chaos theory; no fewer than twelve since 1988.
I can see this as incorrect because - no fewer than twelve since 1988 - is not a complete sentence on it's own (no fewer what?).

Correct - It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

The book now goes on to give more correct examples but they don't look right.

Women's conversation is conservative; men's is competitive. (now to me that sounds wrong (men's what?) is competitive)
Saturn was long thought to be the only ringed planet; however, this is now known not to be the case. (however, this (what is the this?) is now known not to be the case.)

Can anyone shed some light on this for me, or have I got it wrong that a complete sentence should mean something.

Another interresting topic, Slipweed.

Normally, to be complete a sentence must have a subject and a verb; depending on the verb, it may also require an object. I say, normally, because sometime for effect a very short sentence is used with just a verb, or just a noun, or even just an adjective or adverb. e.g.
"I was becoming desperate. What could I do? Think."
or, "In the nick of time the police arrived. A miracle."
or, "The police did arrive, but they were late. Very."

A sentence does not have to contain within itself all the information needed to make sense, particularly if it uses pronouns that refer to something else; they are expected to be read in context.

What I didn't like about the Saturn quote above, however, was the use of the word 'however'. To my mind that should have been the start of a new sentence. Without the 'however' the semicolon is fine; 'this' refers to the fact revealed in the previous statement and so makes a complete sentence.

I hope this helps and that I haven't, inadvertently, used any semicolons incorrectly!

Thanks Tony.

Regarding the however, the Penguin Guide says that certain connecting words do require a preceding semicolon: however, therefore, hence, thus etc.
It singles out however as a special case and says it must be separated by a semicolon or a full stop from a preceding complete sentence.

Ah, right I've just reread the first condition of the semicolon again and it says that a semicolon is used when the two sentences are felt to be too closely related to be separated by a full stop. So I'm beginning to understand when you say A sentence does not have to contain within itself all the information needed to make sense, particularly if it uses pronouns that refer to something else; they are expected to be read in context.

Hi Slipweed!

Sorry that this reply comes so late - thanks Tony for seeing it and replying!! Must remember to check out the topics more regularly when I find my way to the Cloud...

There are two types of clauses within a sentence: dependent, and independent. When the information in a clause is not a complete thought on its own, it is "dependent" on the information in the other clause to make sense. The independent clause contains all the information it needs to make sense, and can therefore stand alone.

The example above of Saturn could also be worded: "Saturn was long thought to be the only ringed planet; this is however now known not to be the case." It sounds a bit clumsy when read aloud, so I would choose the other wording, but just to say that it is possible to shift its position within a clause. In general, I would say (as Tony suggested) once you understand the rule, feel free to depart from it when the craft requires it.


I hope that helps!

Persia

Thanks Persia, your information on depenedent and independent clauses is very helpful.

Ta very much.