In Part 1 we looked at separating items in a complex list. That kind of instance is one of the few where, as an editor, I would actively insert a semicolon into someone else’s text. (This is because it’s to do with improving clarity, which is one of the main jobs of a copyeditor.) This second use is more to do with style and nuance, which is something I’d usually leave to the author.

Ah, the semicolon. More than a comma, less than a full stop, and the source of far more fear and confusion than its flamboyant cousin, the em dash. In fact, most people I know tend to quietly avoid it and hope it’ll go away.

However, the semicolon can add clarity and nuance to your writing, and I hope that by the end of this two-part mini-series I’ll have convinced you to give it a try.

Some elements of English SPAG are hard-and-fast rules; others are more to do with nuance. Today’s topic, by contrast, is about unintentional silliness. Yes, we’re talking about you, dangling participles.