em dash supremacy—my friend introduced me to this and i haven’t looked back since.
alt+0151 on PC, ctrl+alt+minus for word if I remember right. On mobile you go to more symbols, hold down the minus, and slide to the longest one.
Both require numeric keypad though- but using a minus and a space after can work as a substitute
--as well as 2 minus signs (plus Lemmy happens to convert that to an em dash) - but like THAT? treason. absolutely not.You can even join more than 2 independent clauses together as shown above.
I like to quote myself. Like “This is a meaningful sentence” would be an example.
Can you explain to me why I shouldn’t just use a minus sign? What does the extra symbol bring to the table?
What about three, four, or more independent clauses? Is that allowed?
(in standardized English) No, you can’t make them into a star with the semicolon in the center. Sentences are linear, so you can only connect two clauses at a time with one semicolon between them. However, you can chain clauses together, each time using a semicolon to join two independent clauses.
Except language changes over time, so if the star usage of the semicolon catches on and introduces nonlinear sentences, then have at it.
What about imaginary language? o.O
You can; You are clearly an adventurer; And I am impressed; Lest you offend the gods.
They can also be used as a super comma; because sometime you make a longer sentence, or a sentence with complex clauses.
I’m sorry, but the example in your comment is nonstandard usage. The part after the semicolon would typically be an independent clause, whereas the “because” marks yours as a dependent clause.
There are still comma-like uses though. The major one I can think of is as a separator in a list where each element is long, possibly containing commas of its own.
Some people just start sentences with “because”.
Because why not.
I did not know; I guess i learned something new today.
