Question

Lewis Thomas wrote about the semicolon in The Medusa and the Snail: "The semicolon tells you that there is still some question about the preceding full sentence; something that needs to be added. The period tells you that that is that; if you didn't get all the meaning you wanted or expected, anyway you got all the writer intended to parcel out and now you have to move along. But with the semicolon there you get a pleasant feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer." Is this how the semicolon makes you feel when you see it in print? How do you think a semicolon differs from a comma or a period in the way it makes a reader feel?

Answer 1

In the print, the period is a symbol of completion. It means that the message from the writer's side is complete, and it is up to the reader to derive its meaning. It gives a break to the reader who might anticipate for a new chapter or a twist in the story. A comma provides a seperation between different items, whom the writer might list in continuation as the necessary characters of the story, separating them so that they can be understood distinctly by the reader and to keep the sentence coherent. The semicolon, as it is said, is a symbol of optimism, which keeps the reader curious about a new part that still remains to be told before a period puts the story to an end.