Semi-colon restrictions

[RobertoB400]

Question about punctuation, the strategy book says to NEVER put "and" or "but" after a semi-colon but I saw a question on the OG that says that's ok. What's the rule?

(OG15, page 676, #26)

[RonPurewal]

when a semicolon is used to separate two complete sentences (= what it usually does), then you can't start either part with "and" or "but".

note that this really isn't a fact about semicolons at all; it's just a generic fact about sentences. in formal writing, it's not acceptable to start a sentence with "and" or "but" (or "yet", or "or", or "nor").

[RonPurewal]

in that problem, the semicolon is doing something different: it's separating the elements of a list.

normally, that's a job performed by commas ("X, Y, and Z"). however, when the elements in the list are long--especially when the individual elements of the list are things that contain commas (as they do in the OG problem)--the whole list is often rewritten as "xxxxxx; yyyyyy; and zzzzzz".

this is a style thing, rather than a matter of right and wrong; it's a matter of "ugly/unreadable sentence vs. easily understandable sentence".
as such, it will never be tested on this exam; i.e., if you're looking at a list, you will never have to choose between the commas and the semicolons.

as with any other style thing, you only have 2 jobs:
1/ know that it exists,
2/ don't eliminate it.

[aflaamM589]

in that problem, the semicolon is doing something different: it's separating the elements of a list.

normally, that's a job performed by commas ("X, Y, and Z"). however, when the elements in the list are long--especially when the individual elements of the list are things that contain commas (as they do in the OG problem)--the whole list is often rewritten as "xxxxxx; yyyyyy; and zzzzzz".

this is a style thing, rather than a matter of right and wrong; it's a matter of "ugly/unreadable sentence vs. easily understandable sentence".
as such, it will never be tested on this exam; i.e., if you're looking at a list, you will never have to choose between the commas and the semicolons.

as with any other style thing, you only have 2 jobs:
1/ know that it exists,
2/ don't eliminate it.

Can anyone tell to which question the reference is made for those who have OG 12 or OG 13?
Many thanks

[RonPurewal]

OG 13th and OG 2015 are the same.

seriously, though—just buy the new book! the book costs something like 10% of what it costs to take the exam, so, that's obviously a worthwhile price to pay for not having outdated study materials.

[aflaamM589]

Correct!
Order placed.

[RonPurewal]

good.