Our Friend, the Semicolon Let’s begin with a simple sentence: Grandma stays up too late.

Our Friend, the Semicolon Now let’s expand on that a bit: Grandma stays up too late. She’s afraid she’s going to miss something. This is OK. Two independent ideas, separated by a period.

Our Friend, the Semicolon What if we try to combine the two ideas? Grandma stays up too late, she’s afraid she’s going to miss something. Something’s wrong. We connected two independent clauses with only a comma. The dreaded COMMA SPLICE!

Our Friend, the Semicolon We could insert a conjunction: This is better! Note the comma that accompanies the conjunction. Grandma is afraid she’ll miss something, so she stays up too late.

Our Friend, the Semicolon We could also try subordinating one of these ideas: Grandma stays up too late because she’s afraid she’s going to miss something. Notice that the comma disappeared. One idea (the second one) now depends on the other; it has become a dependent clause.dependent clause

Our Friend, the Semicolon But let’s try something else.

Let’s try using a semicolon in this sentence. Grandma stays up too late ; she’s afraid she’s going to miss something. Notice there is no conjunction used with this semicolon – either subordinating or coordinating. A semicolon joins two sentences together all by itself.

Our Friend, the Semicolon Sometimes semicolons are accompanied by adverbs – words such as however, moreover, therefore, nevertheless, consequently, as a result. Grandma is afraid she’s going to miss something ; as a result, she stays up too late.

Our Friend, the Semicolon Notice the pattern: ; as a result, semicolon + adverb + comma This is a typical construction with semicolons.

Our Friend, the Semicolon monster lists There is one other use of the semicolon: to help us sort out monster lists, like this one: The committee included Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics, from Marlborough, Connecticut, Virginia Villa, Professor of English, from Hartford, Connecticut, Paul Creech, Director of Rad-Tech, from Essex, Connecticut, and Joan Leach, Professor of Nursing, from Farmington, Connecticut.

Our Friend, the Semicolon Be careful where you insert semicolons in this sentence. The committee included Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics, from Marlborough, Connecticut ; Virginia Villa, Professor of English, from Hartford, Connecticut ; Paul Creech, Director of Rad-Tech, from Essex, Connecticut ; and Joan Leach, Professor of Nursing, from Farmington, Connecticut.

Our Friend, the Semicolon Now you know everything you’ll ever need to know about using semicolons!

Examples Mark wrote out his report Jodi typed hers. The Indian rhinoceros has one horn the African American rhinoceros has two. The sun came out let’s go to the park and play. My favorite day of the week is Saturday, but I also love Sundays. When the movie is over, we will go outside and play.

Homework Textbook pages 325 and 326 Exercise 10 (1-10)