Hi, Shari! I remember seeing your name before. Yay for re-delurking.

The muffalette debate was five years ago? Geez.

Lord, what fools these authors be.

Hey now. There are those of us who have the utmost respect for editors and if we question, it's because we want to learn.

Some of the copyeditors some of us have been graced with, however, deserve a sound thrashing. No one who could possibly be a Buffista, of course, IJS...

(Since Tep has seen evidence of my Stoopit Copyeditors)

Hee. I read your post, Shari, and my two thoughts were "wait, I swear I've seen you post before!" and "Oooh, we have a real active Republican?!?! We DO have everything!" :)

I have posted a bit before, but never outed myself as a Republican. Sometimes political talk gets hot around here, and I deal with that so much IRL that I try to avoid getting involved with it online. Glad to represent the Vast Right-wing Conspiracy, though as a rule I come here to enjoy the punctuation wars, kid pics, and double entendres.

Teppy will know for sure, but they look correct to me, if you (in those examples) treat "Good" and "Wow" as interjections that can function as independent clauses.

All I can think is Schoolhouse Rock: "Interjections show excitement or emotion and are generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point or by a comma if the feeling's not as strong"

Teppy will know for sure, but they look correct to me, if you (in those examples) treat "Good" and "Wow" as interjections that can function as independent clauses.

I can agree that they are correct, but why not treat them as interjections that don't function as independent clauses and not make your sentence look funny? What value is added?

"Interjections show excitement or emotion and are generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point or by a comma if the feeling's not as strong"

Teppy! We need an answer!

All I can think is Schoolhouse Rock: "Interjections show excitement or emotion and are generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point or by a comma if the feeling's not as strong"

Rock on. For I am of the generation whose knowledge of grammar was formed by Schoolhouse Rock and who learned the Preamble to the Constitution via song.

How are you on the semicolons in these comics (following "Good" and "Wow," respectively)? I feel that they are excessive.

Nah, they're appropriate. One just doesn't often see semi-colons used after single words.

Lord, what fools these authors be.

Hey now. There are those of us who have the utmost respect for editors and if we question, it's because we want to learn.

Ooops -- I meant *our* authors, not ALL authors.

All I can think is Schoolhouse Rock: "Interjections show excitement or emotion and are generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point or by a comma if the feeling's not as strong"

Exactly! Stop waffling, Randall Munroe and Ryan North. Pick a side: either it's worth an exclamation point or it only needs a comma.

Of course it now occurs to me that the semicolon is ALL ABOUT waffling. Normally, it keeps you from having to choose between using a period or a comma/conjunction combination.

Which is why I use em dashes.