Descriptions - Use of colon and semi-colon

I'd vote for commas, although I don't think I would call semi-colons incorrect. What I do is "...the following four (4) courses: 1)...., 2)...., 3)...., and 4)....; thence leaving said building..."

I think your format with the colon, followed by semi colons, thus:

"the following four courses: N 80° W 30 feet; S 10° W 60 feet; N 80° W 20 feet; S 10° W 20 feet; thence leaving said building..."

works fine.

KS

> I mostly use semi-colons between calls in a desription.
>
> But, when describing courses along a building...
>
> "the following four courses: N 80° W 30 feet, S 10° W 60 feet, N 80° W 20 feet, S 10° W 20 feet; thence leaving said building..."
>
> which is correct to use for the calls after the colon? (comma or semi-colon)
>
> I've seen comma and semi-colon utilized. And if it is in a listing format, I've also seen periods used instead.

I would definitely concur with your use above, however, would suggest one slight modification: "the following four courses: (1) N 80° W 30 feet, (2) S 10° W 60 feet, (3) N 80° W 20 feet, and (4) S 10° W 20 feet; thence leaving said building..."

Your punctuation is right on. colon (:) precedes a list; semi-colon (;) separates two complete thoughts or sentences.

JBS

"the following four (4) courses:
N 80° W 30 feet,
S 10° W 60 feet,
N 80° W 20 feet, and
S 10° W 20 feet;
thence leaving said building..."

I use about the same sequence, except usually a different format because I like each course to have its own line. Also, I always put an "and" in the list. Looks like you're on the right course.

I don't see the description of a creek as being one call, each segment of the creek is a single call ended with a ";"

I have seen broken boundaries described with all courses separated by comma or semicolon and in one paragraph narrative form. It can be hard to read and follow on a drawing.

That is why I put one call on one line.

Thence: With center line meander of Flat Creek as follows:
S 27°31'11" E, 121.34 feet;
N 89°47'16" E, 345.67 feet;

I do the same thing Mr. Harris

I've always prepared such descriptions as you show in your example. Commas, rather than semi-colons, in the list of calls following the colon until the last call in the group which is followed by a semi-colon and thence. In my opinion it helps to differentiate the group of calls from the rest of the description. Your example makes sense to me; it's the way I've always done it but then again I'm getting old and set in my ways.

> I do the same thing Mr. Harris

Ditto.

> I don't see the description of a creek as being one call, each segment of the creek is a single call ended with a ";"
>
> I have seen broken boundaries described with all courses separated by comma or semicolon and in one paragraph narrative form. It can be hard to read and follow on a drawing.
>
> That is why I put one call on one line.
>
> Thence: With center line meander of Flat Creek as follows:
> S 27°31'11" E, 121.34 feet;
> N 89°47'16" E, 345.67 feet;

The point of a description is that it is one great big, run-on sentence. English rules regarding sentence structure apply. N 89°47'16" E, 345.67 feet;" isn't a complete sentence (which is required to justify the semi-colon. "...; thence N 89°47'16" E 345.67 feet;" is a complete sentence (the subject being understood), and therefore, requires a semi-colon (by the way, there is no comma between the course and the distance either).

It's just "simple" English... ;o) (ya, right!)

JBS

I describe them like JBS shows, pretty much the same as Steve Gardner showed. My use and understanding of the punctuation is as JBS stated.

JBStahl

That is how most around here do it. If a string along a feature, a beginning and ending point of the feature are noted, such as along the PI's of the polywog of the creek, the following Bearings and Distances, with the first call away from the string being noted as Thence leaving said creek......
jud

JBStahl

> of the polywog of the creek,.....
> jud

Errr...Is the polywog the deepest part?...the last place the polywogs are found during a drought?

http://www.drought.noaa.gov/

DDSM 😉

:beer: :beer:

JBStahl

Waiting for that, the feature followed must be noted to avoid conflict using the traditional term or terms to describe the location, be it the thalweg or some other location. Polywog is fine if defined well.
If I are using Bearings and distances to the second and hundredth I always add the statement," as it existed on such and such a date".
jud

The semi-colon is of course correct usage

> > That is why I put one call on one line.
> >
> > Thence: With center line meander of Flat Creek as follows:
> > S 27°31'11" E, 121.34 feet;
> > N 89°47'16" E, 345.67 feet;
>
> The point of a description is that it is one great big, run-on sentence. English rules regarding sentence structure apply. N 89°47'16" E, 345.67 feet;" isn't a complete sentence (which is required to justify the semi-colon.

That actually doesn't describe standard English usage of the semi-colon to divide a series in which commas appear, as is the case in the best practice that A. Harris describes.

Here's the applicable rule:

Use a semicolon between items in a list or series if any of the items contain commas.

Usage of Semicolons

What Andy said - each course on a seperate line. It is MUCH easier to read that way!

You must be taking about that new English they are teaching in schools these days. How is that working out. Grades are plummeting across the nation.

A few basics:

There are many individual statements made in each call, all are divided from each other by a comma.

At the end of each call there is a semi-colon.

When you make a statement with more to follow, there can be a hyphen - Notes and reference monuments and detailed information go here.

At the end of all statements, there is a period.

I will stick with what they taught me in Grade School. It finally started making sense around age 25±.

🙂

... the following four courses: (1) N 80 W, 20.23 feet; (2) S 20 E, 17.32 feet;(3)................

> There are many individual statements made in each call, all are divided from each other by a comma.
>
> At the end of each call there is a semi-colon.

Yes, it really doesn't make any sense at all to do it any other way. It's pretty obvious that writing metes and bounds descriptions is a lost art outside the .... metes and bounds states.

> You must be taking about that new English they are teaching in schools these days. How is that working out. Grades are plummeting across the nation.
>
That's the truth, there, Mr. Harris. It astounds me how many students who can't write a simple sentence or paragraph, let alone an entire page and a half paper! I don't see it getting any better over the past 20 years, that's for certain.

If you want your kid to make it in the world, make sure they know how to write. They're going to be in extremely high demand.

JBS