(no subject)

[randomness]

Can a comma splice always be fixed by replacing the comma with a semicolon?

(I am not asking a rhetorical question.)

Comments

[cerebralpaladin.livejournal.com]

Some grammarians say that you should always follow a semicolon with what Wikipedia calls a transitional phrase or conjunctive adverb. That's what I was taught in high school. According to that standard, replacing a comma in a comma splice with a bare semicolon would still be improper. That said, I think that most people reject that standard, including various people who hold themselves out as authoritative prescriptive grammarians.