I love a good semicolon, and it tickled me that your quote could be rewritten to include one.
> We know these things are hard to use properly; we’ll teach you how to do it, but it is usually better just to rewrite what you are trying to say using two sentences and avoid them.
Although it does make the sentence a bit long and unwieldy.
EDIT: hah, so can your second quote!
> Proper usage will help your score; you’d better make sure you’ve used it correctly.
But in that instance I think the dropped “but” is more important.
EDIT2: even better…
> Use at most one semicolon in the writing section of the SAT; proper usage will help your score. But you’d better make sure you’ve used it correctly.
Did you just start a sentence with "But"!?!? My 7th grade english teacher is not happy with you!
(I know there is nothing wrong with it, but some teachers really dislike it)
And don't even think about starting a sentence with 'and'.
I think we're taught rules like this to prevent us developing bad habits at the outset. Then, once we have more experience, we know when it's okay to break the rules.
One of my partners' favourite schooltime memories is of a teacher boldly proclaiming:
> "Me" can never be the first word of a sentence
Want to know something crazy? In Greek, the question mark looks like a semicolon
;
;
In the Greek New Testament, many sentences and paragraphs begin with "Kai" which means "And". In English, discouraged just as much as "But".
I tend to type breathlessly, as if speaking; I've done a lot of time in chat rooms. These days, when I'm composing a message, I'll rewind to proofread it, insert commas and semicolons, and break up sentences and paragraphs.
I believe what really drove home the importance of punctuation was singing from sheet music and watching the director. Now there's a job where timing is everything, and it was eventually revealed that a comma (or semicolon) in the lyric text implied a pause in the sung phrase as well. You could take a breath at a comma. In fact, there's a sheet music breath mark that's like a comma above the staff line.
What's more, when a poem or lyrics are presented line-by-line, at the end of a line where there is no punctuation, this does not necessarily mean you can pause or take a breath, because poetry is divided by meter, not by sentence structure. So, when singing with your favorite band, or reciting your favorite poetry slam, try not to insert semicolons where they don't belong!
> EDIT: hah, so can your second quote!
;)
Even the wink emoticon includes a semicolon.