Grammar- comma or semicolon?

[~Dockie]

Not sure which of these is right:

We all end up the same, make it worthwhile.

We all end up the same; make it worthwhile.

I was never great at english at school, but my understanding is if i was to use the first one, it would need an extra word to make sense, something like this:

We all end up the same, so make it worthwhile.

But from what i've read, the semicolon one needs to make sense as 2 independent sentences, which the second part doesn't really make any sense without the first part.

I want to avoid using the 'so' if possible. Is this all correct?

Thanks.

 

[Mr Badger]

What level of pedantry are you expecting from your audience?

If you don't want to use "so" how about:

We all end up the same. Make it worthwhile.

We all end up the same - make it worthwhile.

 

[~Dockie]

If i'm honest, i doubt anyone reading it will pick up on it. The full stop doesn't look right, but i never thought about hyphenating it.

 

[jmc007]

I believe for the best effect.
"We all end up the same, so; make it worthwhile."

Or avoiding so.
"We all end up the same; make it so."

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

Is this for an awful tattoo?

 

[~Dockie]

Is this for an awful tattoo?

No, i'd like it to be right though.

 

[Mr Badger]

I believe for the best effect.
"We all end up the same, so; make it worthwhile."

Or avoiding so.
"We all end up the same; make it so."

Let's avoid "so" by using "so" - very good

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

We all end up the same (so) make it worthwhile.

 

[planty]

If I was writing formally I would choose the semi-colon. Not sure if that is technically correct though.

 

[B1ng]

To my understanding a semi-colon is used in this case to separate two sentences that are connected, where a full stop or a comma will not work.

Another example:
"My wife would like tea; I would prefer coffee."

Are there any english experts in the house?

 

[Zefan]

I understand your tredpidation in using the semicolon. It is often the mark of a moron and/or the "MS Word effect" in action.

It must be correct because Word has underlined it in red, amirite???

 

[Haggisman]

I would use the semicolon, it reads better in my opinion.

However what's with the influx of sickening, pretentious "motivational" phrases that we're suddenly being asked to grammatically correct?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18581460

(ok, yeah, I realise 2 isn't really an influx, but lets ignore that minor detail!)

 

[Atlas23]

(ok; yeah; I realise 2 isn't really an influx; but lets ignore that minor detail!)

Fixed that for you buddy

 

[Haggisman]

Fixed that for you buddy

Thanks. You forgot the full stop at the end of your sentence.

 

[FoxEye]

{We (all) end up the same [make it worthwhile]};

 

[Atlas23]

Thanks. You forgot the full stop at the end of your sentence.

Well now I feel like a fool.


n*

*waits for G|mp*

 

[GravyMonster]

{We (all) end up the same [make it worthwhile]};

Calm down, Angus.

 

[AJK]

The reason you're having trouble is that the sentence doesn't make sense. You haven't clarified what the object "it" is that you should make worthwhile. A semicolon doesn't look right because the second part of the sentence is meaningless, but it would be correct if you replaced "it" with, say, "life".

Of course, it's still meaningless.

 

[Cosimo]

{We (all) end up the same [make it worthwhile]};

Well that's clear....

 

[bitslice]

We all end up the same make it worthwhile



When in doubt, use smiley faces instead of punctuation

 

[tom_e]

I don't think I've ever used a semi colon!
Then again I do have the written English skills of someone who writes those chingrish instruction manuals for a living