15 Jun 2025

The terminal decline of the semi-colon

From Sunday Morning, 11:06 am on 15 June 2025

A recent study in the UK found that semi-colon use in English books has plummeted by almost half in the last 20 years, and another study suggests 67% of British students never or rarely use the semicolon, with just 11% describing themselves as frequent users. 

Massey University linguistics lecturer, Dr Eleanor Ridge, joins us to give a quick lesson in semi-colon use and discusses its decline. 

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