Invented in Venice in 1494 by printer and publisher Aldus Manutius, the semicolon for long had no strictly defined function. In the nineteenth century, as newer and newer grammar rules entered the discourse, disagreements over where and when to use the semicolon became frequent. In her biography of the semicolon, Watson uses a range of examples, from Milton to Martin Luther King Jr to Raymond Chandler, and argues that grammar fanatics should ignore the rulebooks and focus instead on communicating better.

“Does this mean anything goes? Not in the least,” The New York Times writes in its review. “Watson opposes conventions only as they exist to spare us from thinking. Don’t just learn the rules, her clever, curious book prompts us; learn to ask, whose rules (and to admire that semicolon while you’re at it).”