The Semicolon
Zeerak Ahmed, Jamie Zychowski,
Rose Zychowski
What does a ‘;’ do?
• A semicolon is a punctuation mark
used to join two sentences or clauses.
• Example:
– All of the students in Writing 313 are
slackers; Elizabeth however, is the stellar
student!
So when to use a
semicolon?
Rule 1:
• Use between
closely related
independent
clauses.
Example:
In week one, no one
showed up to the
Writing Center; in
week two the
Writing Center was
overflowing with
students.
Rules continued
Rule 2:
• Use semicolon between
independent clauses
linked to the transitional
expression.
– Transitional expressions
(Conjunctive adverbs+
transitional phrases):
therefore, for example, in
fact, after all, indeed,
*Remember transitional
expressions are usually
followed by a comma*
Example:
Most students love
to talk in class;
Michael, however, is
a man of few words.
Rules continued
Rule 3:
• Use a semicolon
between items in a
series containing
internal punctuation.
Example:
Writing 313
students live all over
the world; Karachi,
Pakistan;
Youngstown, Ohio;
and the Quad,
Hiram.
Misuse of the semicolon
Misuse:
1. Don’t use a
semicolon between Desperate to fit in with her
friends; Taylor decided
a subordinate
to watch Glee.
clause and the rest
of the sentence.
Correct:
-What does this
mean you might
ask?
Desperate to fit in with her
friends, Taylor decided
to watch Glee.
Misuse continued
2) Don’t use a
semicolon between
appositive(describe
a noun) and the
word it refers to.
-What does this
mean?
Misuse:
Rose; a young school girl;
always wanted to be a
lion tamer.
Correct:
Rose, a young school girl,
always wanted to be a
lion tamer.
Misuse continued
3) Don’t use a
semicolon after
“such as,”
“including,” or “for
example.”
Misuse:
There are a lot of things I like about
boys including; their muscles,
their hair, and beautiful eyes.
Correct:
There are a lot of things I like about
boys including their muscles,
their hair, and beautiful eyes.
YOUR TURN! YAY!
How good is your sem(eye)colon?
1) In my dreams I travel all over the world, Venice,
Italy, Montana, United States, and to the Moon,
Universe.
2) Rats have intercourse twenty times a day,
therefore, they have many offspring.
3) At Alcoholics Anonymous; we believe being an
alcoholic is not hereditary, it is a choice.
4) In the first game of the season the team scored 20
points. In the championship game they scored 80.
Citations
• Hacker, D. (2009). Rules for Writers: Sixth Edition. United States of
America: Bedford/St. Martin's.