Semicolons can be used between two independent clauses. To join two sentences.Īn independent clause is a group of words that can stand on its own (independently)-it is a complete sentence.
I bought shiny, ripe apples small, sweet, juicy grapes and firm pears. The commas between items can be “bumped up” a notch and turned into semicolons, so that readers can easily tell how many items are in the list and which words go together: That middle part is a bit confusing-it doesn’t give the reader many visual cues about how many items are in the list, or about which words should be grouped together. I bought shiny, ripe apples, small, sweet, juicy grapes, and firm pears. If I use commas to separate these items, my sentence looks like this: Now suppose that the three items I want to list are described in phrases that already contain some commas: In a sentence, I would separate these items with commas: Suppose I want to list three items that I bought at the grocery store: Let’s look at an example, as that is the easiest way to understand this use of the semicolon. To help separate items in a list, when some of those items already contain commas. Here are the two most common uses of the semicolon: 1. A semicolon creates more separation between thoughts than a comma does but less than a period does. The semicolon looks like a comma with a period above it, and this can be a good way to remember what it does. After reading the handout, you will be better able to decide when to use these forms of punctuation in your own writing. This handout explains the most common uses of three kinds of punctuation: semicolons ( ), colons (:), and dashes (-).
Semicolons, colons, and dashes What this handout is about
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