ah; the semi colon

[Careyrox]

How do you use it?

[ChokeCherry]

  I do a Grammar Fridays on my blog, and this just happens to be the topic I covered last week.

A semicolon is used to join to independent clauses which are very similar or very different (to show contrast.) It is used instead of a period and shows a tight relation between the two sentences.

Example: He didn't eat a slice of bread; he ate the entire loaf.

A semicolon is NEVER to be used before a conjuction (but, and....).  A semicolon can also be used as a 'super' comma in lists:

I visited Paris, France; Rome, Italy; Berlin, Germany; and Amsterdam, Netherlands. (This is a really simple example, but should give you the idea)

Hope that helps!

[AnyaHarker]

And beware of where Word's grammar checker wants you to put one. 95% of the time, Word is wrong. ._.

[AshK]

It's also part of a style; serious literary works written with sophisticated language will often use the semicolon but less formal contemporary styles will prolly never use the buggers.

Or, so I've read. On the INTERNET. Where (say it with me) we can't believe everything we read.




(Except for this post, of course; I'd never lie to anyone here. I adore you all too much.)

[bodwen]

In more modern novels, I've seen the emdash used instead.

What's funny, is that in "Key To Rebecca" the protagonist remarks upon the antagonist's semicolon usage.  That's how uncommon it's become.

[Mr. Croup]

My third grade teacher had an easy - and mostly correct, though, I suppose, "non-grammatical (hey!  We were in the third grade!) rule.  Yes, lists where the items needed a second of thought.  The time element was the key for her.  Use where you want a pause for thought: a longer pause than a comma, but a shorter pause than a period.  I realize that makes no sense at all from a purely grammatical viewpoint, but after you write it read the sentence aloud and you'll generally see where a semi-colon is called for.

[Tigerbunny]

Found this article in The New Yorker and thought it was amusing. 

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/07/how-to-use-semicolons.html


 - Tigerbunny