The semicolon

The semicolon ; In plain English… A semicolon is a dot suspended over a comma-shaped mark (;). It separates two independent clauses or a list of items that already contain commas.

Food for thought “What the semicolon’s anxious supporters fret about is the tendency of contemporary writers to use a dash instead of a semicolon and thus precipitate the end of the world.” –Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves

A semicolon can be used like a period. Say you have two sentences that you don’t want to separate with a full stop of a period. You want to show a link between the two sentences. A semicolon can do the job on its own. The semicolon also comes in handy when a list contains commas within each chunk of the list. The semicolon can help separate the phrases in the list without muddling the commas. I eat peanut butter, jelly, and fluff sandwiches; chocolate chip, oatmeal, and raisins cookies; and strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla milk for lunch.

Mentor Text Dad did everything he could to be a good father. He showed interest in everything my brother and I did. We joined the Boy Scouts; Dad joined the Boy Scouts. We become junior volunteer fireman; Dad became a junior volunteer fireman. (p. 126) –David Rice, Give the Pig a Chance and Other Stories

Mentor Text Tonight, though, there seems to be a delay; I pick up from the chatter that something special is going on. (p. 23) –Patricia McCormick, Cut

Mentor Text Ships came and went; men and women did their chores, talked, and sought relief from the heat and insects; the markets and shops hummed with activity; child played; and the city, state, and federal governments went about their business. (p. 9) –Jim Murphy, An American Plague

The colon :

In plain English A colon consists of two dots, one above the other. The colon is like a drum roll announcing what will follow. A complete sentence may end with a colon if there is a summary, idea, or list that follows.

Food for thought Like a well-trained musician’s assitant, it (the colon) pauses slightly to give you time to get a bit worried, and then efficiently whisks away the cloth and reveals the trick complete. –Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves

She took everything in then, and I with her: the house with the sloping roof, the evergreens leaning over it, the dark shadow that was the woodpile on the front porch. –Patricia Reilly, Picture of Hollis Woods

So many things ruined my eighth birthday: I asked for a present Dad didn’t want me to have, I couldn’t learn my multiplication tables, and my parents decided to get a divorce.

Rule: Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it’s a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence.