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Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Punctuations for a series of sentences

I saw this sentence in a text: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Should the comma be replaced with a semicolon because all three elements are independent clauses.  

Should the sentence be written, “I came. I saw. I conquered.” or “I came; I saw; I conquered.”?

Is the comma acceptable, because the elements are in a simple series?

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Comments

This sentence is often given as an example of when it's acceptable to use a comma splice, that is to divide independent clauses with commas, rather than semicolons. I think it's mainly to do with the fact that each clause is very short and that the structures are similar.

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/sutherland/Punctuation.html

From Wikipedia - Strunk & White note that (comma) splices are sometimes acceptable when the clauses are short and alike in form, such as:

"The gate swung apart, the bridge fell, the portcullis was drawn up".

Incidentally, there's an interesting article on the possible waning of the semi-colon at The Australian - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/life-of-the-semicolon-heading-for-a-full-stop/story-e6frg6zo-1226109371840

Warsaw Will Nov-24-2012

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