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I've looked all over but have not found this example.

Can one use a semicolon after a colon or em-dash (or similar doubling up combinations). Is it a matter of style or is there a fast rule?

e.g.:

  1. The quiet was interrupted by a clacking noise: a man was running down the street in his dress shoes; as he did, he repeatedly looked at his watch.

  2. The quiet was interrupted by a clacking noise—a man was running down the street in his dress shoes; as he did, he repeatedly looked at his watch.

  3. The quiet was interrupted by a clacking noise; a man was running down the street with three items: a book, a ball, and a bag.

These may not be the most elegant sentences as I'm just making them up now, and I know they can be rewritten, but is it acceptable according to respected writing style guides to "double up" punctuation like this?

tchrist
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romebot
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    Grammar is about the syntax and morphology of the spoken language only, not about punctuation or spelling or capitalization matters relevant only to writing technology and style. As such, it is often impossible to assign values of correct or incorrect to punctuational styling choices. Instead, common and uncommon, or even liked or disliked, may work better for these. – tchrist Jun 18 '19 at 18:23
  • @tchrist thanks so much. I understand, and if it's a matter of style, that's good news, because I have been using them... but was wondering if in any case some combination would be explicitly grammatically incorrect. cheers. – romebot Jun 18 '19 at 18:57
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    Hello, romebot. I assume your 'if it's a matter of style, that's good news, because I have been using them' that you think obeying punctuation 'rules' is more important than using reasonable style. And pushing 'rules' to the breaking point is OK. I'm sorry; I can't agree. Extending Orwell's Sixth Rule, we can say 'break any other rule rather than writing anything barbarous'. And we don't need to break 'rules' here. (1) 'The quiet was interrupted by a clacking noise – a man was running down the street in his dress shoes. As he did, he repeatedly looked at his watch.' works well, for example. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 18 '19 at 19:05
  • Related: the dog's bollocks – Davo Jun 18 '19 at 19:12
  • Answers: (a) yes, (b) "style", not "rule", (c) best to do your own research rather than ask here. Chicago Manual of Style, MLA Style Manual, Oxford Style Manual etc - many of these have previous editions available online. :-) – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Jun 19 '19 at 01:27
  • I'd use a full stop after noise. You need to think what your structure is and what the relationship is between the clauses. If all the matrix clauses are equally important and equally distinct, then they should be separated by the same punctuation mark. – Stuart F Nov 19 '23 at 16:30
  • To me they all sound awful. The quiet was interrupted by a clacking noise: a man was running down the street in his dress shoes. As he did, he repeatedly looked at his watch. Your punctuation is much too fussy. – Lambie Dec 19 '23 at 17:07
  • @Lambie, the particular example may not be the best possible one, but the general question behind it is clear enough. The question is whether there is a hierarchy among the three punctuation marks. It may well be that, as has already been suggested, there is no strict, unanimously accepted, rule about that, but more can probably be said about that general question, without getting distracted by the specifics of the example. – jsw29 Dec 19 '23 at 17:24
  • @jsw29 Hierarchy? It says: "Can one use a semicolon after a colon or em-dash"? My suggestion is obviously about where creating a sentence might make better sense. It was just an example. Unfortunately, examples are specific. – Lambie Dec 19 '23 at 17:28

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Robert Louis Stevenson writes, in The Adventure of the Hansom Cab [The Literature Network]:

The drawing-room began to look empty: the baccarat was discontinued for lack of a banker; more than one person said goodnight of his own accord, and was suffered to depart without expostulation; and in the meanwhile Mr. Morris redoubled in agreeable attentions to those who stayed behind.

This is an early use of the semicolon as a listing 'supercomma' as a 'subcomma' is deemed preferable after 'accord'.

While punctuation styles change over time (a modern novelist might well have written

The drawing-room began to look empty. The baccarat was discontinued for lack of a banker. More than one person said goodnight of his own accord, and was allowed to leave without argument. While Mr Morris fawned even greater attention on those remaining.)

this is surely a style issue rather than a correct/incorrect situation. But Stevenson is a good ally to have in support of the odd occasion where a complex list (one with sub-lists, not usually nowadays one needing/'needing' commas for other reasons as in this example) is facilitated by both colon and semicolon.

The rules with dashes and ellipses are even less strict (and doubtless even harder to find addressed); ruling principles are that clarity of meaning, then ease of parsing, are paramount. Then, ugly clutter should be avoided. But ugliness is in the eye of the beholder.

Edwin Ashworth
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  • What this answer says may well be true, but it seems to avoid the question rather than answer it. The choice that the OP presents is not between having one very complex sentence and several shorter sentences, but among different ways of punctuating the long sentence. In other words, what you say 'a modern novelist might well have written' is outside the scope of the question. – jsw29 Dec 19 '23 at 17:17
  • 'Can one use a semicolon after a colon or em-dash' / 'Is it a matter of style or is there a fast rule?' :: ' ... this is surely a style issue rather than a correct/incorrect situation.' 'But Stevenson is a good ally to have in support of the odd occasion where a complex list (one with sub-lists, not usually nowadays one needing/'needing' commas for other reasons as in this example) is facilitated by both colon and semicolon. // Is it a matter of style or is there a fast rule? (or similar doubling up combinations).' How is that avoiding the question? // ELU recommends suggested improvements. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 19 '23 at 19:28