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Re: Semicolons

Subject: Re: Semicolons
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: Robert Plamondon <robert -at- plamondon -dot- com>
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2003 14:19:42 -0700

Robert Plamondon wrote:

The general case in the argument, "people can't read what they can't write,"
is obviously false. People who are incompetent at writing, spelling, and
punctuation are often perfectly capable of reading.

You're assuming that a piece of punctuation is the same as a word. it's not. People can puzzle out the pronounciation of a word with considerable success and often they can get some sense of the meaning from the context. However, punctuation is meta-communiation; it doesn't convey information in itself, but tells you how to parse the communication. If you don't know the meta-communication, it's difficult to understand exactly how it's dividing up the sentence. Many people won't try.

Remember, reading level reflects the subject matter more than it reflects
your writing abilities
Granted, complex subject matter is more likely to have its own jargon, but what's your argument? I think I disagree with it, but, even if I'm do, I'm curious why you would say this.

--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield

"Comes a heat wave, you can go down to the shore,
Comes a summon, you can hide behind the door,
Comes love, nothing can be done."
-Lew Brown, Sammy Stept, and Charles Tobias





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Re: Semicolons: From: Robert Plamondon

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