Melody Editing
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Pricing
  • Blog

The Simple Semicolon

3/23/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
In my personal mythology of punctuation, Semicolon is a sweet, shy underdog, often misunderstood and maligned but heroic in his own way. He lives in his humble hut, gentle and introspective but always alert to passing sentences that have become confusing tangles of list items and related clauses. Semicolon brings words together in the most graceful way and asks for nothing in return.

I don't know why our poor Semicolon is so misunderstood. Maybe it's because he sometimes gets used in sentences that are long and winding and difficult. But don't worry. I'm here to offer a brief (and simple!) guide to the use of this lovely punctuation mark.

CONNECTION

You have two independent clauses (complete sentences) that are closely related. They're so closely related that using a period between them would be just a touch too much interruption. Well, use a semicolon instead!

These pears are too ripe for me; I like my pears crunchy.

The sun is shining; spring has arrived.


COMPLEX LISTS

You have a list of three or more items. At least one item in the list contains commas. To avoid confusion, separate the list items with semicolons (you can think of it as if the higher-level commas are "graduating" and need a little hat on them).

They asked for apple juice, orange juice, and lemonade; blankets and pillows; and the Netflix password.


There is one last commonly accepted way to use a semicolon: When a sentence has a whole lotta commas and the meaning might get confusing, a comma might be graduated to a semicolon for clarity. You'll see it a lot more often in older literature. But please, unless you have mastered the use of the semicolon, pretend this last way to use it does not exist. I have a theory that it's what causes most people's confusion.

And that's it! Semicolon wants to help. Let him.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Melody's Musings

    Here, Melody will ponder editing, grammar, punctuation, and the text she encounters in the world.

    Archives

    May 2016
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    Categories

    All
    Cop
    Descriptivism
    Editor Life
    Google
    Grammar
    Hippie
    Mythology
    Practical Help
    Prescriptivism
    Punctuation
    Spelling Phantom

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2020 by Melody Condon. All rights reserved.
Proudly powered by Weebly