The only ways you should be using a semicolon
<p>A semicolon, the hybrid between a colon and a comma, is often considered one of the more pompous punctuation marks.<br /><br />In reality, it gets a bad rap just because few people know how and when to use it.<br /><br />The semicolon is used to indicate a pause, usually between two main clauses, that needs to be more pronounced than the pause of a comma.<br /><br />So what are the practical ways to implement this little grammatical workhorse?<br /><br />Read on to see how it can help you merge connected thoughts, separate listed items clearly, and form a bridge to another sentence.</p>
<div class="view view-article-slider view-id-article_slider view-display-id-article_slider_block view-dom-id-6bf7c0c1a8ea5882f1134b90914e692a">
<div class="view-content">
<div class="views-field views-field-field-slides">
<div class="field-content">
<div class="field-collection-view clearfix view-mode-full field-collection-view-final">
<div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-slides clearfix">
<div class="content">
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-title field-type-text field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even"><strong>Why use a semicolon?</strong></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-content field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">
<p>In the classic grammar and style manual <em>The Elements of Style</em> by William Strunk and E.B. White (first published in 1919), the case for the semicolon is laid out clearly: “If two or more clauses, grammatically complete and not joined by a conjunction, are to form a single compound sentence, the proper mark of punctuation is a semicolon.”</p>
<p>In simpler terms, that means you can use a semicolon to separate two complete sentences that are related but not directly linked by a connecting word like “but” or “so.”</p>
<p>For example: “She didn’t show up to work today; she said she had a headache.”</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="views-field views-field-field-slides">
<div class="field-content">
<div class="field-collection-view clearfix view-mode-full field-collection-view-final">
<div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-slides clearfix">
<div class="content">
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-title field-type-text field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even"><strong>Who uses semicolons?</strong></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-content field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">
<p>The short answer: copy editors, professional writers, and you - if you’re savvy.</p>
<p>“If words are the flesh and muscle of writing, then punctuation is the breath, and a good writer will make good use of it,” says Benjamin Dreyer of Penguin Random House, author of the forthcoming book Dreyer’s English.</p>
<p>The semicolon is one of his favorite pieces of punctuation, and it was one of America’s great authors, Shirley Jackson, who inspired the admiration.</p>
<p>“Shirley Jackson loved her semicolons,” says Dreyer.</p>
<p>“I think that’s all the defense they need."</p>
<p>"The first paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House - one of the great opening paragraphs I can think of - includes three of them.”</p>
<p>Here is Jackson’s sublime first paragraph: “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against the hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="views-field views-field-field-slides">
<div class="field-content">
<div class="field-collection-view clearfix view-mode-full field-collection-view-final">
<div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-slides clearfix">
<div class="content">
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-title field-type-text field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even"><strong>Why use a semicolon instead of a comma?</strong></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-content field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">
<p>According to Dreyer, “independent sentences don’t hang together well with commas, unless they’re as terse as ‘He came, he saw, he conquered,'” he explains.</p>
<p>“For anything of greater length, a semicolon is simply better, stronger glue than a comma, while a period is too divisive.”</p>
<p>It’s also grammatically incorrect to link two complete sentences using a comma; a semicolon acknowledges that they’re two complete sentences, even if they are related.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="views-field views-field-field-slides">
<div class="field-content">
<div class="field-collection-view clearfix view-mode-full field-collection-view-final">
<div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-slides clearfix">
<div class="content">
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-title field-type-text field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even"><strong>How to use a semicolon</strong></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-content field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">
<p>It helps to think of a semicolon as sort of a soft period.</p>
<p>“Semicolons provide the right link between two essentially independent thoughts that one wants to present as just shy of independence,” explains Dreyer.</p>
<p>According to <em>yourdictionary.com</em>, “[The semicolon] shows a closer relationship between the clauses than a period would show.”</p>
<p>Here’s an example: David was getting hungry; he suddenly regretted skipping breakfast.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="views-field views-field-field-slides">
<div class="field-content">
<div class="field-collection-view clearfix view-mode-full field-collection-view-final">
<div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-slides clearfix">
<div class="content">
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-title field-type-text field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even"><strong>How to use a semicolon in a list</strong></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-content field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">
<p>In lists, we generally use commas to separate the items.</p>
<p>For example, at the market, I’ll be picking up yogurt, blueberries, and coffee.</p>
<p>However, sometimes there are lists that contain commas, so it gets confusing unless you separate those items using semicolons.</p>
<p>For example, at the market, I’ll be picking up yogurt, which I know needs to be organic; blueberries, because they’re in season and on sale; and coffee, so Daddy will actually be able to wake up in the morning.</p>
<p>Semicolons keep the items in the list neatly contained, so your meaning is always clear.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="views-field views-field-field-slides">
<div class="field-content">
<div class="field-collection-view clearfix view-mode-full field-collection-view-final">
<div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-slides clearfix">
<div class="content">
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-title field-type-text field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even"><strong>How to use a semicolon before a transition</strong></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-content field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">
<p>Use a semicolon to merge two sentences after a transitional phrase such as “however” and “as a result.”</p>
<p>You probably already know to use a comma after the transitional phrase (“However, I still got the discount”), but you may not know that you can use a semicolon before the transitional phrase to form a bridge to the previous sentence (“The sale was officially starting on Saturday; however, I still got the discount on Friday because I had a special code”).</p>
<p>You could technically use a period in that instance, but a semicolon signals that the thoughts are connected.</p>
<p>Other examples: Everyone knows he deserves a raise; of course, he won’t get one with the current budget cuts. Her email is blowing up; for example, she got 50 messages in the last 10 minutes alone.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="views-field views-field-field-slides">
<div class="field-content">
<div class="field-collection-view clearfix view-mode-full field-collection-view-final">
<div class="entity entity-field-collection-item field-collection-item-field-slides clearfix">
<div class="content">
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-title field-type-text field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even"><strong>When not to use a semicolon</strong></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-slide-content field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">
<p>When you have a conjunction - a connecting word such as “but,” “and,” or “so” - a semicolon is unnecessary.</p>
<p>In those cases, the correct punctuation mark is a comma.</p>
<p>So it would be incorrect to write “Judy jogged on the pavement; but it wasn’t good for her knees.”</p>
<p>The correct version, using a comma, would be “Judy jogged on the pavement, but it wasn’t good for her knees.”</p>
<p>Of course, if you got rid of the “but,” a semicolon would be appropriate: “Judy jogged on the pavement; it wasn’t good for her knees.”</p>
<p><em>Written by <span>Rachel Aydt</span>. This article first appeared in </em><span><a href="http://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/history/only-ways-you-should-be-using-semicolon"><em>Reader’s Digest</em></a><em>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, </em><a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.co.nz/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRN87V"><em>here’s our best subscription offer.</em></a></span></p>
<p><img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" /></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>