Wednesday, January 11, 2012

punctuation - Em dash vs semicolon: which is more appropriate in the following examples?

I am very confused by these, and even when I understand other people's usage of them I find it difficult to know when to employ them myself. For this reason, I am trying to make my own examples and see if I get them correct. Please understand, English is not my first language, but I have never learned grammar in my native language either. I hope that what I'm saying is comprehensible to you.



In the following examples, I'll be using a period in place of the em dash or semicolon, because I am utterly confused as to which one should be used.






  1. English is not my first language, and I'm having trouble with the grammar. Specifically semicolons and dashes.


  2. Don't ask Jim to fix your car. That sort of thing would be better handled by Steve.


  3. The question isn't what you can take away from this, but what you can learn in the process. / The question isn't what you can take away from this. It is what you can learn in the process.





Normally I would use a semicolon in all of these instances, but recently I have come to learn that this is incorrect usage.



Any help is greatly appreciated.

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