The Semicolon?

Question

Is the semicolon being used correctly here:
Four years after the fact my opinion of what an amazing person is has drastically changed; an amazing person is...

Would it be appropriate to use a period?

I'm writing a journal entry for English about something that has had a big impact on my life and I want to make sure my grammar is correct =].

I meant to say, "Would it be more appropriate to use a period?"

Answer 1

you can use a semicolon instead of a conjunction when you have a compound sentence

example- the dog ran, and the cat ran.

semicolon: the dog ran; the cat ran.

Answer 2

For starters, you have a comma problem. It should read:

"Four years after the fact, my opinion of what an amazing person is has drastically changed..."

Using a semicolon implies that you are joining a very short independent clause to another independent clause of any length, but that is tightly relevant to the second, shorter clause. For example, this is a logical usage of a semicolon:

"My dog Sandy is one of the best friends I have ever had; I've had her for three years."

This is an example of an illogical usage:

"My dog Sandy is one of the best friends I have ever had; I really like Christmas holidays."

Bearing that in mind, your usage DOES make sense, but it would be best if the clause after the semicolon was very abrupt. For example, a good usage is:

"Four years after the fact, my opinion of what an amazing person is has drastically changed; an amazing person is one who puts others first."

and NOT:

"Four years after the fact, my opinion of what an amazing person is has drastically changed; an amazing person is one who rises up from the monotony of prolitarean drudgery to challenge the societal norms of the capitalist manifesto."

Answer 3

Either a period or a semicolon would be correct. So would a colon, since the second sentence explains the first.

Answer 4

...changed; now I think an amazing person is...
a semicolon shows 2 strongly related sentences. I would use one.