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The semicolon ( ; ) is
an important punctuation mark
in English; it is particularly
common in formal and/or
academic writing. There are several common
ways of
using
the semicolon; here is one:
Use a semicolon
to connect sentences that have
closely related ideas.
Examples:
He came; he saw; he conquered.
His lips are
trembling; he's about to cry, I think.
She always does her
best;
that's one reason
everyone admires
her.
Dave
Sperling and his family
recently visited
a village
near Chiangmai, Thailand; Dave's wife,
Dao, comes
from there.
Almost everyone has heard
of the Grand
Canyon;
it's one of the most famous tourist
attractions
in the U.S.A.
Ahmed and his wife are
newlyweds; they got
married only
a few days ago.
Special Notes:
| 1. |
Periods
(full stops) could also be used
for the sentences
above, but
the semicolons
emphasize how
closely related the sentences
are. (If periods
are used, the
sentences
seem "choppy.") |
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| 2. |
Commas cannot be used to join
sentences
like
the above. |
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| 3. |
Note that when
a
semicolon is used to join
closely related
sentences, a lower case
(small) letter follows the semicolon, not
a
capital letter. |
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| 4. |
Most authorities state that
when a semicolon
is used with parentheses
((
)) or
with
quotation
marks (" "),
the semicolon should
be outside
the parentheses or quotation
marks:
Bill said, "I was born
in a very
small
town";
he went on to say
that it's a friendly
place with a
population of less than 1,000.
Ms. Jones was probably referring
to the
state
of Washington (which is in the north-
western U.S.); a reference to Washington,
D.C. doesn't
seem very logical to me.
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