Something occurred to me when I was half awake this morning.

You may say it’s self evident or trivial.

I was reading something in the newspaper and a sentence or two came into my mind.

(Sort of like one is driving and sees a sign ahead.)

He is dead.

His writing lives on.

My brain works like a writer’s. I think in sentences and paragraphs and very literally– like I’m always writing an English paper.

How do you punctuate that, I thought.

1. He is dead, his writing lives on.

2. He is dead; his writing lives on.

3. He is dead. His writing lives on.

Option 1 – No. Maybe okay for a fiction writer, but a comma splice.

Option 2 – I like to use a semicolon, but not here.

Option 3 – The best choice. Keep as two short, independent sentences. Reads best and is clearest.

Sentences are indeed the building blocks of expository writing. Short or long.

— Roger W. Smith

   May 21, 2020