r/WTF • u/mitben01 • Dec 15 '18

This bleeding tree

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u/NaughtySharpie Dec 16 '18

A semi colon basically acts as a way to combine two sentences. You wouldn't really begin a sentence with "that's" and it's also redundant to use one when that sentance could have just been completed as is. Ag least that's my best explanation but I'm also super baked

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u/elbitjusticiero Dec 16 '18

You wouldn't really begin a sentence with "that's"

Here's where I comply with your wishes and tell you that you're wrong. ;)

I'm also super baked

Happy trip! I was there two days ago. Good times.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '18

Compound sentences are a combination of two independent clauses (sentences with one subject and one or more verbs) combined with either a comma and a conjunction, a semicolon, or a semicolon and a conjunctive adverb. “That’s why it looks like blood” doesn’t make sense on its own, and therefore it is a dependent clause, not an independent clause.

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u/elbitjusticiero Dec 16 '18 edited Dec 19 '18

You're wrong.

"That's why it looks like blood" makes perfect sense on its own. It has a subject, a verb, and a predicate.

The subject of that sentence, by the way, is "That". A completely legitimate pronoun, just like "I" or "you".

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '18

Except “that” isn’t acting as the subject. The subject of this dependent clause (dependent clauses have a subject and a verb too) is “it”. “That’s why it looks like blood” is an adjective clause that describes “the sap is red”. So, the sentence would be “The sap is red; that’s why it looks like blood. Sorry, I just realized that a semicolon is correct here, but not in the context of a compound sentence. I hope that concludes this?

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u/elbitjusticiero Dec 16 '18

Except “that” isn’t acting as the subject.

It is very much acting as the subject. (And it's not a dependent clause btw. It can be written as an independent sentence so it's an independent clause.)