My new favorite punctuation mark: the dash

JUNE CASAGRANDE

A few weeks ago, a reporter here wanted to know why copy editors kept

changing her semicolon to a colon.

Deirdre Newman had written, “Parking is the main concern; Rutter

favored an alternative with 375 spaces.”

What came out in print, however, was a colon in space of the

semicolon.

“I still think a semicolon is better -- maybe I’m wrong,” Deirdre

wrote in a newsroom e-mail. “But if not, I think a period would have

been better, not a colon.”

In no time, a harmless question had spiraled into a

blind-leading-the-blind verbal and e-mail melee as people like me

volunteered half-baked guesses. I don’t remember what the point of my

pontification was, but I know that it added further confusion by also

weighing the role of the dash.

So if the greatest minds at the modern-day Athens known as the

Daily Pilot can’t handle this one, how is the average business writer

to know what to choose when faced with the choice of colon,

semicolon, dash, period or comma?

The first and most important thing to know -- which took us half a

day to figure out -- is that there’s a lot of room for choice here.

Much of the issue has to do with what you meant to say and how you

meant to say it.

For example, Deirdre was using the semicolon because she felt it

separated two distinct but equally weighted thoughts. This is one

correct use of the semicolon.

Per the Associated Press Style guide: “In general, use the

semicolon to indicate a greater separation of thought and information

than a comma can convey, but less than the separation that a period

implies.”

Here’s a guideline I once learned: The semicolon should come

between two phrases that can stand on their own as complete

sentences.

Semicolons can also be used to manage unwieldy lists. Think of

them as uber commas.

“She leaves behind a son, Mike Jones of Miami; two daughters,

Laura Smith of New York and Elizabeth Aaronson of Pittsburgh; and a

brother, James, of Carson City, Nev.”

What kind of a mess would that sentence be without the semicolon?

Let us all gasp in terrified awe of this mighty power.

So was Deirdre right? Sure. Was the guy who corrected her wrong?

Nope. He was right, too. Here’s why:

Besides its most common use for introducing lists, the colon is

often used to add emphasis. Quoth the AP Style Guide: “The colon can

often be effective in giving emphasis: ‘He had only one hobby:

eating.’”

The copy editor felt that the second thought in Deirdre’s quote

was the umph set up by the first part. Therefore the colon added

emphasis to the more heavily weighted thought.

Also fine.

Me, I’m a dash person. A dash is basically two hyphens, though

lots of word processing programs automatic meld the hyphens together

into one long line.

I had no idea why I was so fond of the dash until I double-checked

my book just now and read, “Abrupt change: Use dashes to denote an

abrupt change in thought in a sentence or an emphatic pause: We will

fly to Paris in June -- if I get a raise.”

As someone whose brain operates in bizarre fits and starts, I now

understand why I gravitate toward this punctuation mark. From this

day forward I will think of it as a sort of schizophrenic semicolon

and my close friend.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at june.casagrande

@latimes.com.