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For multiple dates, does one separate them with a semicolon or a comma? Example: Your scheduled car services are: January 2nd, 2009; March 3rd, 2009; June 2nd, 2009 and September 10th, 2009. Or is it: Your scheduled car services are: January 2nd, 2009, March 3rd, 2009, June 2nd, 2009 and September 10th, 2009. And if I'm wrong in both accounts, then I have no idea! Thanks, Daniel Posted by daniel981 on Dec 3, 2008. |
Grammar Group
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Falling back on the ultimate resources of Strunk and White's Elements of Style and the Associated Press stylebook, you would be well-advised to use semicolons to avoid confusion. Any time there is a sequence of comma-laden facts, like dates for instance, it is more aesthetically pleasing and easier to differentiate items using semicolons. To do this in a technically correct fashion, one must remember the function of a semicolon in the first place -- to provide a necessary longer pause before stating something related to the immediately prior statement. For instance, "I like dogs; my favorite breed is the Cocker Spaniel." The two statements are related to each other, therefore the semicolon is appropriate. In the case of separating items in a series, since there are already commas present, the semicolon serves more as a visual divider than anything else. This is why journalists use it for that purpose predominantly. Posted by engtchr5 on Dec 3, 2008. |
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Here's how I'd revise the sentence:
All of the dates are in the same year, so you don't need to keep repeating it. Also, you don't really need the colon in this sentence. Colons are used to introduce lists when the introductory part is a complete sentence itself. For instance, if your sentence was
you'd use the colon to separate the introductory part from the list. I hope that makes sense. See these sites for more help: http://www.enotes.com/topics/how-use-punctuation http://www.ehow.com/how_5954_colon.html
Posted by linda-allen on Dec 3, 2008. |
