Hello All, I am unfortunately not the best at punctuation but I like to learn. Please help me! Please advise me on which form of punctuation I should use in the following sentence: "You have not thought this through, I drink whiskey." This sentence is said to a man buying champagne for a women who likes scotch but the comma I have used does not seem to break the two statements up enough. What do you think
I would suggest either a full-stop with a period, or a semi-colon since they seem to be independent clauses. But I believe you may also be able to pull this off with a colon as well, but I'm not comfortable enough with grammar rules to suggest that outright.
The colon is gaining popularity as a replacement for a semi-colon (or period) linking two independent clauses. But it will come off as very contemporary and I doubt anyone around here will tolerate it, yet alone recommend it. If you wanna play it safe, I'd go with a period.
Yeah, I wanted to use a colon but wasn't quite sure. I think I'll stick with that, it is supposed to sound pretty conversational. Thanks
Use a period. The semicolon is already highly overused in fiction. A semicolon, when used to separate independent clauses, is the indecisive compromise between a full stop and a join using a comma and a conjunction. Technically, a semicolon is acceptable. Tradititionally, however, they are frowned upon in fiction. A colon doesn't belong there at all. The comma also does not belong. It creates the type of run on sentence called a comma splice.
I say it works best as two sentences. Use a period and make "I drink whiskey" a separate sentence. If you must make this all one sentence, then a semicolon works and is what I'd use. But it's better as two sentences. Use a period.
