Introduction
The semicolon seems like a comma with a period above it, and this will be an honest thanks to remember what it does. A semicolon creates more separation between thoughts than a comma does but less than a period does. Semicolons and colons, for instance, look a lot alike, but they signal completely different things (semicolons usually connect whole sentences while colons introduce specific bits of information). Dashes have many different uses, but they always have an informal quality.
2 commonest uses of the semicolon
- to assist separate items during a list, when a number of those items already contain commas.
Let’s look at an example, as that is the easiest way to understand this use of the semicolon. Suppose i would like to list three items that I bought at the grocery store:
apples
grapes
pears
In a sentence, i might separate these things with commas:
I bought apples, grapes, and pears. Now suppose that the three items i would like to list are described in phrases that already contain some commas:
shiny, ripe apples
small, sweet, juicy grapes
firm pears
If i exploit commas to separate these things, my sentence seems like this:
I bought shiny, ripe apples, small, sweet, juicy grapes, and firm pears.
That middle part may be a bit confusing—it doesn’t give the reader many visual cues about what percentage items are within the list, or about which words should be grouped together. Here is where the semicolon can help. The commas between items can be “bumped up” a notch and turned into semicolons, so that readers can easily tell how many items are in the list and which words go together:
I bought shiny, ripe apples; small, sweet, juicy grapes; and firm pears.
- To join two sentences.
A main clause may be a group of words which will stand on its own (independently)—it may be a complete sentence. Semicolons can be used between two independent clauses. The semicolon keeps the clauses somewhat separate, sort of a period would do, so we will easily tell which ideas belong to which clause. But it also suggests that there could also be an in-depth relationship between the 2 clauses—closer than you’d expect if there has been a period between them. Let’s look at a few examples. Here are a couple of fine independent clauses, standing on their own as complete sentences:
I went to the grocery store today. I bought a ton of fruit. Apples, grapes, and pears were on sale.
Now—where could semicolons fit in here? They could be wont to join two (but not all three) of the independent clauses together. So, either of those pairs of sentences would be okay:
I visited the grocery today; I bought plenty of fruit. Apples, grapes, and pears were all on sale.
OR
I went to the grocery store today. I bought plenty of fruit; apples, grapes, and pears were all on sale.
I could NOT do this:
I went to the grocery store today; I bought plenty of fruit; apples, grapes, and pears were all on sale.
But why would I want to use a semicolon here, anyway? One reason may need to try to with style: the three short sentences sound quite choppy or abrupt. A stronger reason could be if I wanted to stress a relationship between two of the sentences. If I connect “I bought plenty of fruit” and “Apples, grapes, and pears were all on sale” more closely, readers may realize that the rationale why I bought so much fruit is that there was an excellent sale thereon.