You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly at the top of your post. Please note, all posts are moderated by our in-house language experts, so make sure your suggestions, help, and advice house the kind of information an international language teacher would offer. If not, and your posts do not contribute to the topic in a positive way, they will be subject to deletion.
Yes, possibly. But it's usually unwise (if you're aiming for smoothness and accuracy of communication). I try to avoid it - which often forces me to use dashes, which some people like even less.
Yes, possibly. But it's usually unwise (if you're aiming for smoothness and accuracy of communication). I try to avoid it - which often forces me to use dashes, which some people like even less.
b
I agree that it is usually unwise. One notable exception is the use of semicolons to separate a list of items that contain commas.
While I was on vacation, I visited the following places: San Francisco, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Columbus, Ohio.
Punctuation 
Linear Mode
