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Re: CHAT: Dashes

From:Robert Hailman <robert@...>
Date:Monday, June 11, 2001, 20:24
Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> > En réponse à Robert Hailman <robert@...>: > > > > > Also, semicolons are used in convoluted lists: "I gave a copy of my > > book > > to John, the barber; Fred, the doctor; and that hobo who lives under > > the > > bridge." means I gave the book to 3 people, but "... to John, the > > barber, Fred, the doctor, and that hobo who lives under the bridge." > > means I have the book to 5 people. > > > > In French, we use commas and only commas for lists, but we usually repeat the > preposition in front of each item of the list, so we don't need a special mark > for convoluted lists.
Yeah, repeating the preposition is (more or less) an acceptable way to handle a list like that in English, but some of us like convoluted lists. ;-) I guess if you're used to a language where semicolons are used sparingly, then the over-use of them in English would be unpleasant. -- Robert