semicolon or comma?

He's not going; right?
She admitted it; correct?

Do semicolons precede right and correct here? They are elliptical sentences that mean "Is that right?" and "Is that correct?"

For example, I definitely think semicolons are correct below:

He's not going; is that right?
She admitted it; is that correct?

But are the semicolons correct in the first two examples at the top of this thread?

Thank you.

 

No, I wouldn't say the semi-colons are correct in the first two examples. But I'd be happy to see a period there, so I can't really back up my argument.

I'd probably use a comma, myself. Treating the "right" or "correct" part as an auxiliary, maybe, even absent the verb?

 

Do these look better? They are not tag questions, technically?

He's not going. Right?
She admitted it. Correct?

But:

He's not going, is he?

That is correct with the comma, I think.

 

First post: In the first two, no semicolons. In the second two, semicolons, though I'd probably just split to two sentences.

Above post: Fine.

 

Thank you. Great advice.

 

The right and correct are being used as interjections, hence, they need a comma, or question mark separating them. Example:

He's not going? Right?

-

 

He's not going, right?
He's not going. Right?

Both are correct, then.

I will definitely opt for the two-sentence version with the period.

 

Yep. Both are fine. There's a faint nuance of difference. The first feels like the speaker was always unsure. The second feels more like the speaker was confident and then had sudden doubt.

 

Remember, you can use the trusty 'em dash'. I love the little bastards!

 

In the first examples, although they are technically elliptical sentences, I feel that ‘right’ and ‘correct’ imply ‘is he’ and ‘didn’t she’ respectively. So these expand to:

He’s not going, is he?
She admitted it, didn’t she?

I feel that full stops give the wrong sense.

He’s not going. Is he?

In this example, ‘he’s not going’ sounds like an imperative due to the full stop, as though the speaker is telling the listener that he isn’t going. Then, ‘is he?’ has the sense of a demand to agree. The same applies to “She admitted it. Didn’t she?”

I might be wrong about the implied meaning, but that is certainly what I read into it with that punctuation. As others have said, I think a comma is best I this scenario. It is clearer.

 

ChickenFreak said exactly what I was going to say. Depends on the nuance you're looking for.

 

I like:
He's not going... Right?
She admitted it... Correct?

 

I don't prefer that version, because the ellipsis points indicate missing words. There aren't any elided words here.

 

What would you use for the pause in a comment, or are these rhetorical questions?