Young Writers Society

Okay. So say you have a sentence that you think is pretty good, and then suddenly you get someone telling you that you need a semicolon. A semi-what?

Many people get freaked out by the mere mention of it. I know several writers who have burst in tears because of them, in fact. Actually, that's a bit of a lie. I don't. But nobody likes semicolons. Why? Because they're tricky little bits of punctuation. They're half comma, half colon, and they look like this: ;

So how do you use them?

First of all, you use them a lot in something called "comma splices." Basically, a comma splice means that you added two independent parts of a sentence illegally. Let's say I wrote this:

"She clutched the teddy bear closer to her, he looked bored."

This would make no sense. Is she clutching the teddy bear closer because he looked bored? Or something more sinister? What really is happening???

The reason why this sentence is so funky is because they're are two different parts of the sentence (called clauses) stuck to each other that are independent. To make it sound logical, instead of writing a comma, which really doesn't make sense, you would write a semicolon. So I could (legally) write this instead:

"She clutched the teddy bear closer to her; he looked bored."

How is it read? Basically, if you read it out loud, it'll sound almost like a period... except not. So you would say it, letting the last syllable ring on before starting the second clause. The second clause is a lot more pronounced and regal-sounding than if you just split the two clauses into two sentences. And did I mention the second clause stands out more?

So use semicolons when you want to combine two clauses together when the second clause is the most important part and you want it to stand out.

Hopefully that makes sense?

OMG, this is great.

Now I can finally have a more explainable way to explain semicolons to Luna... or rather you do.

What about all the other weird cases where semicolons are called for?

Er... that's how you use them in stories mainly. They can also be used as separated list items used with a colon, though I can't see how you would use them as a story...

Hmmm... Too bad I don't have my grammar book with me. There are like four different uses for Semicolons! or...some number thats numeric like that.

But you are right, this is basically the only story-useful one, though I somewhat disagree with the last clause needing to be important. The semicolon makes it stand out, makes it important, but in the first place it doesn't need to be important. That's my take at least. But I also think I over use semicolons...

Well... okay. The reason why they stand out more is because the preferred form is the dash. Semicolons are only really used for formal reasons, really.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JamesJKilpatrick/2006/05/16/the_sissy_semicolon

That pretty much reflects my opinion of the semicolon. Granted, there are always exceptions.

I don't think your example helps the semicolon's case, by the way. The example you 'fix' is awful to begin with.

- MC

I always have trouble with semi-colons, which is why they are missing from all my writings XD

I think I'll have to try it out now that I've read this. Thanks, Snoink.

Yesss! Thanks for posting this. ^_^ I dislike how semicolons get such a bad wrap sometimes. They can be quite nifty.

I don't use them because not many people really know how to deal with them anymore. Why confuse the poor reader if you can help it?

*shuffles feet* OK! I discrimminate against them because I don't like the way they look! Happy?

I sometimes think I use semicolons too frequently, but I guess that's better than constantly comma splicing?

While I'm thinking about it, maybe you can help me with something similar. Sometimes I am torn between using a dash (-) and a semicolon, or even an ellipsis. It's generally easier for me to decide when to use the ellipsis versus the other two, but it's a problem I have anyway. I have no idea if or when it is grammatically correct to use a dash though.

Can also be used to separate items in a list. For example:

She went to the supermarket and bought a number of things: biscuits; bacon; tomatos; apricots and cheese.

Ofour, there's no need for the colon or the semi colon in your example. The semicolon's misusage is one reason, among others which include it's incredible knack to always be superfluous, why I dislike it.

Semicolons should be used for more complicated lists, where a simple comma doesn't divide the objects.

'Besides, there were many things he disliked about her; she often, even when warned, went down to the lake; she would never look him in the eye, unless to make argument; she, above all else, was always the first to raise her hand against at the committee, even when he knew she agreed with him.'

I don't like the example very much, but it'll do.

xtenx wrote:I sometimes think I use semicolons too frequently, but I guess that's better than constantly comma splicing?

While I'm thinking about it, maybe you can help me with something similar. Sometimes I am torn between using a dash (-) and a semicolon, or even an ellipsis. It's generally easier for me to decide when to use the ellipsis versus the other two, but it's a problem I have anyway. I have no idea if or when it is grammatically correct to use a dash though.

I wrote a tutorial about that which addresses (briefly) that question. You can find it here: http://snoink.com/kn/writing/15.php

Comma splicing is most painful to mine eyes.

I think I'm guilty of over-using the semi-colon on occasion. I just love him so much; he's perfect and good for every occasion! Don't you just love how you can connect two very similar thoughts with this sweet but subtle piece of punctuation? No messy dashes are necessary!