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The core of both questions is: why didn't these authors simplify complex sentence structures? It's hard to see how the answers would be significantly different for semicolons versus splitting into...
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#1: Initial revision
The core of both questions is: why didn't these authors simplify complex sentence structures? It's hard to see how the answers would be significantly different for semicolons versus splitting into two sentences. I'm not sure "why did these authors do X?" is on-topic on Writing anyway (I can't recall if we've discussed it), but if it is, these are basically the same question with two different proposed alternatives.