How Do I Use a Semicolon?

Factual Questions
1

I never really learned that one. I picked up “Eats Shoots and Leaves” in the bargain bin but it’s just so freaking boring that I can’t get through it. The subject doesn’t bore me, the cutsie stories do. Dopers have a knack for clear and concise explanations so please enlighten me. I’m always impressed as hell when someone uses a semicolon in correspondence with me but also a little embarassed that I don’t know if the usage is right. Are there any other punctuations that I can learn and dazzle folks with my knowledge of?

2

Two words: search function.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=318001&highlight=semicolon

Several more words.

Just a tip, but GQ is technically for questions with factual answers. “Are there any other punctuations that I can learn and dazzle folks with my knowledge of?” doesn’t really qualify. The answer is probably yes, but we can’t know that for a fact. :wink:

3

Use a semicolon when you plan to conjoin two relative sentences into one and you don’t wish to use “and,” “but,” etc. For example:

or

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT use a semicolon the same way you would use a comma, or you’ll look very, very silly.

Hope this helps.

Adam

4

In other words, if a period would be correct, a semicolon would also be correct. You use a semicolon instead of a period when you want to connect the two ideas together a little more closely.

There’s also the serial semicolon: If you have a list, and the elements of the list contain commas, you can use a semicolon as the list separator instead of a comma. For instance, a list of state capitals might look something like “Columbus, Ohio; Helena, Montana; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Sydney, New South Wales…”, etc.

As for other cool punctuation marks, are you accquainted with the interrobang!?

5

*Eats, Shoots, and Leaves * is an absolutely terrible guide to punctuation; a rant about how kids these days don’t respect their elders by someone who doesn’t understand punctuation herself. Even worse, it is impossible to look up anything in it.

Get Karen Elizabeth Gordon’s “The Well Tempered Sentence.” It’s useful (and useable) and much more entertaining.

6

Using semicolons is just one among several ways to separate independent clauses within a single sentence.

7

Two different words back at ya.

Thanks all.