How to use a semicolon - Emma Bryce

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It may seem like the semicolon is struggling with an identity crisis. It looks like a comma crossed with a period. Maybe that’s why we toss these punctuation marks around like grammatical confetti; we’re confused about how to use them properly. Emma Bryce clarifies best practices for the semi-confusing semicolon.

Lesson by Emma Bryce, animation by Karrot Entertainment.

It may seem like the semicolon
is struggling with an identity crisis.

It looks like a comma
crossed with a period.

Maybe that's why we toss these punctuation
marks around like grammatical confetti.

We're confused about
how to use them properly.

In fact, it's the semicolon's half-half
status that makes it useful.

It's stronger than a comma,
and less final than a period.

It fills the spaces in between,
and for that reason,

it has some specific
and important tasks.

For one, it can clarify
ideas in a sentence

that's already festooned with commas.

"Semicolons: At first, they may
seem frightening,

then, they become enlightening,

finally, you'll find yourself falling
for these delightful punctuation marks."

Even though the commas separate
different parts of the sentence,

it's easy to lose track
of what belongs where.

But then the semicolon
edges in to the rescue.

In list-like sentences, it can exert
more force than commas do,

cutting sentences into compartments
and grouping items that belong together.

The semicolon breaks things up,
but it also builds connections.

Another of its tasks is to link together
independent clauses.

These are sentences
that can stand on their own,

but when connected by semicolons,

look and sound better
because they're related in some way.

"Semicolons were once
a great mystery to me.

I had no idea where to put them."

Technically, there's nothing
wrong with that.

These two sentences can stand alone.

But imagine they appeared
in a long list of other sentences,

all of the same length,
each separated by periods.

Things would get monotonous very fast.

In that situation,

semicolons bring fluidity
and variation to writing

by connecting related clauses.

But as beneficial as they are,
semicolons don't belong just anywhere.

There are two main rules
that govern their use.

Firstly, unless they're
being used in lists,

semicolons should only connect clauses
that are related in some way.

You wouldn't use one here, for instance:

"Semicolons were once
a great mystery to me;

I'd really like a sandwich."

Periods work best here because these
are two totally different ideas.

A semicolon's job is to reunite
two independent clauses

that will benefit from
one another's company

because they refer to the same thing.

Secondly, you'll almost never find
a semicolon willingly stationed

before coordinating conjunctions:

the words, "and," "but," "for,"
"nor," "or," "so," and "yet."

That's a comma's place, in fact.

But a semicolon can replace
a conjunction to shorten a sentence

or to give it some variety.

Ultimately, this underappreciated
punctuation mark

can give writing clarity,
force, and style,

all encompassed
in one tiny dot and squiggle

that's just waiting to be put
in the right place.