I don’t understand when and how to use the semicolon in a sentence.
Please give me a few example sentences and where the subjects/verbs/etc are so i can see exactly what is going on and what the regulations are.
tia
Used for joining two independant clauses without using a conjunction like and or but. I usually use it in place of a comma if the two clauses sound like they could stand alone as seperate sentences.
I just posted this; I hope it doesn’t double-post.
http://www.uhv.edu/ac/student/writing/grammartip081004.htm
Good examples here.
In short, though, keep this in mind (from the above link): “A semicolon is stronger than a comma, but not as strong as a period.” So you can use it as a “weak period” to separate two closely related sentences/clauses (where you would have used a period), or use it as a “super comma” to separate confusing/long strings (where you would have used a comma).
Your OP is not a good example; semicolons are used to connect what could otherwise be two whole sentences. The sentences, once connected, are referred to as independent clauses; the complete combined sentence is a compound sentence. Semicolons replace the comma + conjunction format for compounds; for instance, instead of writing “Bill painted, and Jane sculpted,” one could write “Bill painted; Jane sculpted.” Of course, semicolons are not meant to connect two clauses willy-nilly; there should be some connection, such as the second clause being an explanation of or subsidiary thought to the first clause.
I hope this is helpful; moreover, I hop you understand that for purposes of illustration I’ve created some clunky compound sentences above which would be better left as two uncombined sentences.
–Cliffy
I hop? Oy.
Also, as toad notes, semicolons are proper in certain chains of items that would typically be connected by commas: “Tim, Joe, Fred, Marcia, and I went to the movies.” That’s fine, but “I traveled to the offices at 12 Park Street, Springfield, Illinois, 773 Martin Street, Columbus, Ohio, 443 Market Street, Erie, Pennsylvania, and 55 Charles Avenue, Wheeling, West Virginia,” is confusing. When items in a chain have internal commas, you’d separate the chain by semicolons to clearly signal new items. Semicolons can also be used when items in a chain are simply long, albeit not internally punctuated, but there’s no hard and fast rule there.
–Cliffy
I generally use semicolons when the paragraph is looking too choppy because of short sentences, or a sentence is just too long and awkward to stuff another ‘and’ into it; they also help when you want to continue a thought without a complete halt.
When you give an example, of something such as in your OP title, you should use the colon (“A good time to use the colon: when giving an example.”)
Semicolons are good for lists, as noted, especially of longer items, and connecting sentences that have a strong connection, mostly when the second sentence is an explanation of the statement made in the first. The following paragraph illustrates most important uses:
A few examples of stupid remarks are: “Singing lessons are nothing for me; I can’t sing.”; “Sometimes I think I’m quite clever; I mean, thinking is quite clever, isn’t it?”; and “I don’t understand why people don’t understand me; it’s not like I don’t never use double-negatives or anything!”
Is’nt this last construction wrong? Shouldn’t it be: “I don’t understand why people don’t understand me; it’s not like I don’t never use double-negatives or nothing!”
[QUOTE=Arwin]
“Singing lessons are nothing for me; I can’t sing.”
A colon might be better here.
[QUOTE=Xema]
It might, but only on Bizarro World. That’s a classic semicolon situation – two clauses that could stand as complete sentences joined by a semicolon without conjunction because the second clause amplifies the first. A colon would be inappropriate. A colon is an equals sign; it is applicable only when the stuff to the left of the colon is equal to the stuff to the right of the colon. These two clauses are not equal; instead, one is the explanation of the other. If you wanted to express this idea in a sentence with a colon, it would be something like “There is a reason why singing lessons are nothing for me: I can’t sing.”
–Cliffy
Next week—Lord willing and the creek don’t rise—the em dash.
I was taught that one could replace semicolons with periods and em-dashes with commas, and the grammar should remain valid. The sense or emphasis might change, but where it’s gramattically correct to use a semicolon, it would also be grammatically correct to use a period.
The exception is the serial semicolon used in lists, as described by Cliffy. You can’t replace those with periods.
This site (among others) appears to disagree with you:
Your contention that a colon is not used when the second clause is the explanation of the first seems to be contrary to one well accepted use of this punctuation mark.
For another example, this site offers the advice about the colon: “Use it to pause & explain.”
My interpretation of the rules agrees with Cliffy’s explanation. I think the semi-colon is the appropriate punctuation in that case.
My test for semi-colon use is whether you can substitute the words “which is/are” for the colon and make some sense.
I have a problem with singing lessons: I’m completely tone deaf.
but
Singing lessons would do nothing for me; I’m completely tone deaf.
Correct semicolon usage?
The northeast capitals: Albany, NY**;** Trenton, NJ**;** Boston, MA**;** Providence, RI and Hartford, CT were all major trading hubs during the colonial era.
I would put one last semi-colon between “Providence, RI” and “and Harford, CT.”
There would also be a comma after “CT.” Preferably, avoid postal abbreviations in anything but addresses. State names are set off on both sides by commas. You would write:
Paris, Texas, is not to be confused with Paris, France.
NOT
Paris, Texas is not to be confused with Paris, France.
And, a little correction, in my previous post I wrote: “My test for semi-colon use is whether you can substitute the words “which is/are” for the colon and make some sense.”
I meant: My test for colon use. I guess in this particular case the “which is/are” test doesn’t work. I also think of colons as meaning “the following.”
Crap. I didn’t even notice your use of the colon there. I wouldn’t use it like that. I would either set the capitals off from the rest of the sentence with parentheses or em dashes. I think you might even be able to use a comma here, but it looks really yucky to me.
I’d write it as:
The northeast capitals—Albany, New York; Trenton, New Jersey; Boston, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and Harford, Connecticut—were all major trading hubs during the colonial era.
One more thing, and I’ll shut up. If you must use state abbreviations in your writing, I’d stick with AP Style and use the old fashioned abbreviations.
To wit:
The northeast capitals—Albany, N.Y.; Trenton, N.J.; Boston, Mass.; Providence, R.I.; and Harford, Conn.—were all major trading hubs during the colonial era.
This one fails the commonly applied test that what precedes the colon be capable of standing as a sentence.
Not necessarily:
Yes, your general rule is correct but, as with most grammatical “rules,” they are more guidelines than anything else. But, yes, John’s use of the colon was incorrect in that case.