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Is my usage of the colon in this sentence accurate?

Please Correct This Sentence For Me, Semi-colon vs Comma.?

  • I'm trying to understand when to use semi-colons and commas. I've been doing the research on my own by reading several different sites explaining such, but the whole independent clause, stand alone and predicate thing is just confusing me. So I was thinking, I have a sentence I have written which completely qualifies for the appropriate use of semi-colons and or commas, so if I present the sentence and someone would be so kind as to correct it, I do believe I can finally obtain a much better grasp. I hope....... lol. Thank you in advance to any who may answer. Sentence: As the pads of Dean's fingers ghosted slowly across the deeply recessed and sinewy muscles of his left arm, where the skin was wrinkled and dried, reminding him of old, worn leather, he tried not to think about what happened to cause the loss of the use of his arm. ---------- @ Punkalina, thank you for detailed answer I appreciate it very much, but I have a question. Are you familiar with the character name Dean? I mean, umm... one of the examples you used is dead-on what this character likes, pie. This is a fanfiction piece and I was just curious if you associated the name with the show so you used pie as an example, or is this just an extremely odd coincidence? =)

  • Answer:

    As the pads of Dean's fingers ghosted slowly across the deeply recessed and sinewy muscles of his left arm, where the skin was wrinkled and dried, reminding him of old, worn leather, he tried not to think about what happened to cause the loss of the use of his arm.---- Honestly, this sentence is punctuated correctly using only commas. There are only two instances where a semi-colon can be used. One is in a list within a sentence where the over-use of commas would cause confusion. Another is when two sentences are closely related, you may use a semi-colon in place of a comma with a coordinating conjunction to compose a compound sentence. EX: Mom gave us a long list of chores to complete. First, she wants us to wash the dishes; second, iron the clothes; third, vacuum the house; fourth, dust the furniture; and finally, cook dinner. EX: I like cake; however, I love pie!

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As the pads of Dean's fingers ghosted slowly across the deeply recessed and sinewy muscles of his left arm, where the skin was wrinkled and dried, reminding him of old, worn leather, he tried not to think about what happened to cause the loss of the use of his arm.---- Honestly, this sentence is punctuated correctly using only commas. There are only two instances where a semi-colon can be used. One is in a list within a sentence where the over-use of commas would cause confusion. Another is when two sentences are closely related, you may use a semi-colon in place of a comma with a coordinating conjunction to compose a compound sentence. EX: Mom gave us a long list of chores to complete. First, she wants us to wash the dishes; second, iron the clothes; third, vacuum the house; fourth, dust the furniture; and finally, cook dinner. EX: I like cake; however, I love pie!

Punkalin...

I would write it as: As the pads of Dean's fingers ghosted slowly across the deeply recessed and sinewy muscles of his left arm- where the skin was wrinkled and dried, reminding him of old, worn leather- he tried not to think about what happened to cause the loss of the use of his arm. In short, replace the two commas with a hyphen :).

As the pads of Dean's fingers ghosted slowly across the deeply recessed and sinewy muscles of his left arm; where the skin was wrinkled and dried, reminding him of old, worn leather, he tried not to think about what happened to cause the loss of the use of his arm. Use before lists. See http://rebecca-coates.suite101.com/colon-vs-semicolon-punctuation-smackdown-a297665

Ben

Your sentence is a bit too run on for my taste but would still be correct with commas after dried & leather. no semicolons are needed. As a general rule, commas go where you pause or take a breath as you read your sentence out loud. Semicolons are seldom used if your sentence is properly written.

Catkeypurr

I would write it as: As the pads of Dean's fingers ghosted slowly across the deeply recessed and sinewy muscles of his left arm- where the skin was wrinkled and dried, reminding him of old, worn leather- he tried not to think about what happened to cause the loss of the use of his arm. In short, replace the two commas with a hyphen :).

As the pads of Dean's fingers ghosted slowly across the deeply recessed and sinewy muscles of his left arm; where the skin was wrinkled and dried, reminding him of old, worn leather, he tried not to think about what happened to cause the loss of the use of his arm. Use before lists. See http://rebecca-coates.suite101.com/colon-vs-semicolon-punctuation-smackdown-a297665

Ben

Your sentence is a bit too run on for my taste but would still be correct with commas after dried & leather. no semicolons are needed. As a general rule, commas go where you pause or take a breath as you read your sentence out loud. Semicolons are seldom used if your sentence is properly written.

Catkeypurr

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