When we think about punctuation, we often think of periods, exclamation marks, question marks, and commas. Some times we also include colons or parentheses. Very rarely are more obscure pieces of punctuation, such as semicolons or various types of hyphens/dashes considered or formally taught. Today, let’s look at semicolons and how to use them.
What is a Semicolon?
A semicolon is denoted by the ; symbol. The symbol itself actually gives us a hint as to how it is used! A semicolon consists of a period . and a comma , with the period being placed above the comma. As such, a semicolon most often operates as a “soft period” or “hard comma”. This means that it isn’t as final as a period; it can exist in the middle of a sentence as I just demonstrated. It also represents a stronger division in a sentence than a comma. We will see some examples of it being a “hard comma” later.
Using a Semicolon to Join Independent Clauses
The first use of a semicolon we will discuss is to join two independent clauses. In simpler language, this means taking two sentences that could exist on their own and combining them into a single sentence. We typically do this when the two sentences are related, often using words like “and” or “but”. Instead, we can use a semicolon. Let’s look at an example below.
Sentence 1: Dogs are usually bigger than cats.
Sentence 2: Cats usually live longer than dogs.
If we were to join these sentences together, a familiar way to do so might be to use the word “but”:
Dogs are usually bigger than cats, but cats usually live longer than dogs.
We can also join these sentences with a semicolon:
Dogs are usually bigger than cats; cats usually live longer than dogs.
Using a Semicolon Before Conjunctive Adverbs
This section might sound confusing from the title, but in plain language it means that when we join sentences using words like “however” or “moreover”, we need to put a semicolon before the conjunctive adverb and comma after it. Let’s use the same two sentences from the above section, but link them with the word “however” as an example.
Dogs are usually bigger than cats; however, cats usually live longer than dogs.
Using Semicolons in Lists
The last way to use semicolons that we will discuss is in lists. Usually, we use a comma to separate items in a list. Sometimes, lists contain items that have a comma in them. This can easily create confusion. For example, let’s look at the following list without semicolons:
I went on vacation to Paris, France, Rome, Italy, and London, England.
Did I travel to 5 places (Paris, France, Rome, Italy, and London) or 3 (Paris, Rome, and London)? Is the correct interpretation:
A: I went on vacation to Paris, France, Rome, Italy, and London, England.
or
B: I went on vacation to Paris, France, Rome, Italy, and London, England.
If I use semicolons to separate items with commas, I can remove any confusion.
I went on vacation to Paris, France; Rome, Italy; and London, England.
Now it is clear that I specifically went to the cities in their respective countries.
This has been a brief introduction to using semicolons. For more information on this or other grammar topics as well as assistance with homework and test preparation, feel free to reach out to an Academic Director toll-free at 1 (877) 545-7737 or via our Contact Us page.
