The Semicolon

 

So many people are afraid of the semicolon. I don’t use it as often as I could. Sometimes a sentence just shouts for a semicolon. If there is some doubt, I avoid it.

Semicolons are used to join two clauses which could be two standalone sentences. So basically, you can join two sentences that are closely related.

Here is a site that explains it in a simple, graphic way. It calls the semicolon ‘the most feared punctuation on earth’ which is not a total exaggeration.

 

 

Author: Janet Carr

Fashion, beauty and animal loving language consultant from South Africa living in Stockholm, Sweden.

3 thoughts

  1. I have a sneaking suspicion that I may be the only member of my team at the office who regularly uses semicolons in written communications; in fact I’m not even convinced that the “Corporate Communications” department are familiar with this delightful element of punctuation. Its correct usage, sadly, appears to be becoming a lost art; thus do we erode the expressive power of language: mark by mark, slowly dumbing down…

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