What does : ; - mean in stimulus and passages?

[pacer]

Can you please discuss the use of : ; and - ? I have seen them in LR stimulus and RC passages.

Why and when do authors use this? What is the purpose?

How should I interpret them or take not of them when I come across them in readings?

This might be a very naive question. Whenever I see these symbols/punctuation, I get thrown off. Can you please elaborate or go over this topic?

Thanks!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi pacer,

Colons (":"), semicolons (";"), and dashes ("-") have a variety of grammatical uses, but none of them are unique to the LSAT. To summarize:

Colon

The colon is most commonly used after an independent clause that precedes a list:

We have two types of students: those who work hard, and those who don't.

The colon is also used as a premise indicator to separate an explanation, rule, or example from a preceding independent clause:

You need to work hard: it's the only way to succeed.

Semicolon

The semicolon is most commonly used to join independent clauses that do not have coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, nor, for, so, yet) and commas as connectors. Words like "however," "moreover," "nevertheless," "therefore," etc. are often used as connectors in these sentences. For example:

We have not yet won; however, we shall keep trying.

Dashes

They usually set off material for emphasis:

Everything in my fridge - eggs, milk, leftover steak - is now spoiled.

You can read more about the grammatical uses of these kinds of punctuation here:

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/s ... nd-dashes/

Hope this helps!

[Steve Stein]

Good question—and good answer!

Let me throw in just one additional point, using both a colon and a semicolon: You shouldn't let such punctuation throw you off; on the LSAT you should generally be able to make sense of a point with or without colons and semicolons.

And let me illustrate the point by restating it without using a colon or a semicolon. You shouldn't let such punctuation throw you off. On the LSAT you should generally be able to make sense of a point with or without colons and semicolons.

I hope that's helpful too!

~Steve

[pacer]

Thanks Nikki and Steve!

I think my problem is that I find a break in the flow of the sentence when it contains these punctuation. I will keep the pointers you provided in mind as I continue to practice. The input was very helpful.