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Semicolons

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You may have heard this kind of advice, 鈥淭o avoid short choppy sentences and improve the flow of your writing, vary your sentence lengths and structures!鈥� It鈥檚 solid advice, and it turns out a semicolon (or 鈥渟emi-colon,鈥� both are acceptable) can help you heed it.

Perhaps when you tried using a semicolon, however, it was marked incorrect by your instructor. This resource can help!

Use a Semicolon Like a Pro

Below are the three basic situations for the proper usage of a semicolon.

  • 1. To separate two closely-related complete sentences instead of a conjunction (like and, but, or)
    1. 鈥淚 went to the store. It was closed.鈥�
    2. 鈥淚 went to the store, but it was closed.鈥�
    3. 鈥淚 went to the store; it was closed.鈥�

    Each of these three examples is grammatically correct. The first, however, sounds choppy; a whole paragraph of sentences like that will eventually sound like a beginning reader鈥檚 lesson. (鈥淪ee Spot run.鈥�) The second sentence is probably the one we would use in most contexts. The third, featuring the semicolon, has something emphatic or dramatic about it: it lacks the choppiness of the first example with its two complete stops, but it does not make the contrast so pronounced as the 鈥渂ut鈥� does in the second example. It shows the close relation between the two statements but leaves the nature of that relationship implied.

  • 2. To separate two complete sentences linked with a transitional word or phrase (like however, in fact)

    Many students resist using semicolons for fear of doing so incorrectly; once its three basic uses are understood, however, the semicolon will pose little problem.

    Caution:听What lies on either side of the semicolon, as in the previous examples, needs to be a complete sentence. Here is a case where the semicolon is used incorrectly (what follows it is merely a phrase):

    • Incorrect:听鈥淢any students resist using semicolons for fear of doing so incorrectly; probably because a teacher corrected them in the past.鈥�
  • 3. To separate items in a series when the items themselves already contain commas

    Below is an example of a semicolon used in this way:

    • 鈥淎merica鈥檚 favorites cartoon family, The Simpsons, includes Homer, the oafish but loving father who tries to be a good dad in spite of himself; Marge, the worrisome but loving mother with the blue beehive hair-do; Lisa, the brainy older sister; Maggie, the pacifier-sucking baby; and of course, Bart, the class-clown, troublemaker and rebel without a cause.鈥�

Last revised: 07/2008 |听Adapted for web delivery: 05/2021听In order to access certain content on this page, you may need to download听听or an equivalent PDF viewer software.