Semi-Colons: What Is Their Purpose?

[Ogdred Weary]

I am uncertain as to their usage, this after reading many descriptions and examples, including in teacher training books. I gave up a long time ago and mostly avoid them but occasionally stick them in longer sentences which I feel don't need to be broken up.

Can the august posters on the forum please illuminate me?

 

[Yithian]

I am uncertain as to their usage, this after reading many descriptions and examples, including in teacher training books. I gave up a long time ago and mostly avoid them but occasionally stick them in longer sentences which I feel don't need to be broken up.

Can the august posters on the forum please illuminate me?

Multiple, but two predominate.

There are some differences in accepted practice between British and U.S. English.

The less-common reason is to serve as an additional form of comma in lists where commas have already been employed. The semicolons serve to 'group' the items.

You will need to bring the following: sleeping bag, pillow, and pyjamas for the overnight stay; water bottle, waterproof jacket, sweatshirt, and walking boots for the afternoon trek; and a swimming kit for the river activities. [Stolen example as I'm feeling unimaginative]

The more important use is to join independent clauses (a full sentence or a part of a longer sentence that could stand on its own grammatically). These clauses are either linked grammatically, causally or thematically (or in multiple ways--see below), and the 'linking' often allows you to omit the kind of conjunctions that would normally be employed to specify the nature of that link.

Steve had a rocket launcher on his shoulder, a rifle slung across his back and enough ammunition to sink a battleship's big brother; no fucker stood a chance once he walked into the room.

In this case the 'link' is twofold: there's a grammatical link where 'he' in the second clause refers back to 'Steve' in the first, and a causal link where the second clause is a consequence of the first (and there's no need for 'because' or 'hence' etc.). The idea is it's not a substitute for an equals sign like a colon is (The greatest ever team: Tottenham), but not as vague as a comma.

Very often the clause after the semi-colon sums up or adds commentary/judgment on the clause that preceded it. One distinction between U.K./U.S. usage is whether the semi-colon must be followed by an independent clause (minimum: subject and predicate, i.e. noun and verb). You sometimes see U.K. constructions where they're a pithy addition, not a full clause.

Came home to find my wife had just got back with my favourite fish and chips; fucking magic.

Personally, I'd use a dash there.

I could write more, but see whether that's clear first.

The third big function is joining clauses with conjunctive adverbs.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Thanks for the reply, Yith. I feel fully confidant in the first example but am slightly lost with the second. I think in the first example I'd instinctively use a colon and in the second a comma. Would either of those also be correct?

With conjunctive adverbs (I will admit to having had to google what one of those was), I think I would just use the adverb.

Yith and other posters please feel free to lob as many examples at me as you like and at your leisure, it can only help.

 

[Yithian]

Thanks for the reply, Yith. I feel fully confidant in the first example but am slightly lost with the second. I think in the first example I'd instinctively use a colon and in the second a comma. Would either of those also be correct?

Strictly, yes.

And that's why we're largely in the realm of style here. Remember that in terms of style we shouldn't be looking at individual sentences, but rather at the form of the whole paragraph. If you over-employ any construction or any punctuation mark, it will read horribly.

When you get a semicolon just right, it 'balances' the sentence marvellously, and seamlessly carries the reader along your train of thought.

Commas don't signal the connections strongly enough and colons are just too finite--you almost mentally pause before giving the part that follows them.

 

[EnolaGaia]

There have been variations among the fine-grained rules for semi-colon usage in American English grammar and style guides. To make matters even more complex, some semi-colon applications are left to the discretion of the writer and / or based on the writer's personal evaluation of complexity and readability in the particular passage(s) being punctuated.

The semi-colon's use as a surrogate conjunction linking independent clauses is the same in both British and American English.

The requirement to use semi-colons as dividers in a list wherein at least one listed item has an embedded comma is also the same between American and British English.

When I was drilled on semi-colons, they were commonly characterized as something like "a super-comma" - i.e., a way to add emphasis or stylistic impact to a juncture at which an ordinary comma might suffice, to provide a stronger pivot where an ordinary comma wouldn't suffice, or to bridge between independent clauses without stopping with the earlier one and beginning a new sentence.

(Adjusting to accommodate Yith's more recent comments ...)

In this latter application (bridging between independent clauses), the key is portraying a seamless flow in what could just as grammatically be done with two consecutive sentences. The replacement of the inter-sentence gap with the semi-colon "flows" the reader along to the subsequent clause and thus treats the trailing bit as if it were unavoidable or obvious.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Strictly, yes.

And that's why we're largely in the realm of style here. Remember that in terms of style we shouldn't be looking at individual sentences, but at the form of the whole paragraph. If you over-employ any construction or any punctuation mark, it will read horribly.

When you get a semicolon just right, it 'balances' the sentence marvellously and seamlessly carries the reader along your train of thought.

Commas don't signal the connections strongly enough and colons are just too finite--you almost mentally pause before giving the part that follows them.

I have a personal rule which is possibly only semi-conscious where if there's more than three commas in a sentence I employ a semi-colon. Obviously there are exceptions, lists for example, and it is also determined by how many commas I'm using in the rest of the text.

At the risk of becoming too meta, in the last sentence above, I instinctively felt that a punctuation mark was needed before the "and", was that correct and could/should have been a semi-colon?

 

[Yithian]

I have a personal rule which is possibly only semi-conscious where if there's more than three commas in a sentence I employ a semi-colon. Obviously there are exceptions, lists for example, and it is also determined by how many commas I'm using in the rest of the text.

At the risk of becoming too meta, in the last sentence above, I instinctively felt that a punctuation mark was needed before the "and", was that correct and could/should have been a semi-colon?

Commas don't signal the connections strongly enough and colons are just too finite--you almost mentally pause before giving the part that follows them.​

Commas are often omitted when connecting two short independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction (here: 'and').

It's never wrong to place one in these situations, but I didn't want to break up the flow of the first part, because the dash at the end was going to do that for me.

It would have made the sentence too 'stop-starty'.

(Now if you want a debate: that comma I just placed before 'because' has a very definite purpose, but many would remove it).

 

[Yithian]

Here's a passage by Oliver Sacks that I've used in the past to demonstrate what would Fowler would call 'full-orchestration' in punctuation:

Dr P. lived on the East Coast of the United States. He was well-known for many years as a singer, and then, at the local Academy of Music, as a teacher. It was here that certain strange mistakes were first observed. Sometimes a student would present himself, and Dr P. would not recognise him; or, specifically, would not recognise his face. The moment the student spoke, he would be recognised by his voice. Such incidents multiplied, causing embarrassment, perplexity, fear – and, sometimes, comedy. For not only did Dr P. increasingly fail to see faces, but he saw faces when there were no faces to see: genially, Magoo-like, when in the street, he might pat the heads of water-hydrants and parking-meters, taking these to be the heads of children; he would amiably address carved knobs on the furniture, and be astounded when they did not reply. At first these odd mistakes were laughed off as jokes, not least by Dr P. himself. Had he not always had a quirky sense of humour, and been given to Zen-like paradoxes and jests? His musical powers were as dazzling as ever; he did not feel ill – he had never felt better; and the mistakes were so ludicrous – and so ingenious – they could hardly be serious or betoken anything serious. The notion of their being ‘something the matter’ did not emerge until some three years later, when diabetes developed. Well aware that diabetes could affect his eyes, Dr P. consulted an ophthalmologist, who took a careful history, and examined him closely. ‘There’s nothing the matter with your eyes,’ the doctor concluded. ‘But there is trouble with the visual parts of your brain. You don’t need my help, you must see a neurologist.’ And so, as a result of this referral, Dr P. came to me.​

It's extremely well done, but slightly old-fashioned for being so.

Some would say it's over-punctuated; they'd be wrong.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I'm not sure about differences between American and British English when it comes to using semi-colons as list dividers (beyond the embedded comma(s) rule mentioned above). Furthermore, there are differences among the more venerable American English grammar / style guides on this. Finally, some things aren't written in stone and are simply left to the writer's discretion.

Having said that ... In the context of the guidance under which I was originally drilled ...

Semi-colons are required for separating items within an inline (ordinary text) listing whenever:

- one or more of the listed items is an independent clause (i.e., capable of being a freestanding sentence);
- the number of listed items (other than single words or very short phrases) exceeds X (X = 3, as I recall);
- the listed items are indexed (e.g., tagged as (a), (b), (c), ... ); and / or
- the list is prefaced so as to begin immediately following a colon.

I was also taught that a list justifying inline semi-colons (just as with commas, for that matter ...) is similarly punctuated when broken out into a structured list of multiple lines (as illustrated above).

Semi-colons are strongly recommended whenever some or all the listed items are lengthy enough to tax readers' comprehension across multiple lines of text.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

And to think some posters were complaining about an unnecessary F-bomb in Picard.

 

[pandacracker]

When a kid, I did speech and drama classes. My teacher explained how to use semi-colons when reading out loud thusly:

Imagine a sentence as a bird coming in to land on a branch. The comma is it's first first approach, the semi-colon is the bird preparing to land and the full stop, landed.

Remembering this helped when reading James Baldwin's writing (he uses lot's of them)

 

[James_H]

I think most points have been covered in the postings by Yithian and Enola; however, I think they missed the fact that you can contrast clauses by following a semicolon with 'however,'...

Kurt Vonnegut hated them:

Here is a lesson in creative writing. The first rule: do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.

 

[EnolaGaia]

... Obviously there are exceptions, lists for example, and it is also determined by how many commas I'm using in the rest of the text.

At the risk of becoming too meta, in the last sentence above, I instinctively felt that a punctuation mark was needed before the "and", was that correct and could/should have been a semi-colon?

Personally, I avoid using commas for parenthetical comments so as to avoid applying them for different purposes or at different levels within a single sentence. If it had been me I'd have delimited the parenthetical "lists for example" (or equivalent) in some other way or rephrased / restructured the sentence. Having said that ...

I agree with your instinctive sense that punctuation is needed before the "and." The two clauses are sufficiently lengthy to warrant it, and they are expressing or referring to two distinct things (existence of exceptions versus a factor affecting usage in a given sentence).

 

[EnolaGaia]

I think most points have been covered in the postings by Yithian and Enola; however, I think they missed the fact that you can contrast clauses by following a semicolon with 'however,'...

It's a particular case of the semi-colon's use as a more dramatic / impactful pivot point conjoining two clauses.

 

[Krepostnoi]

he had never felt better; and the mistakes were so ludicrous – and so ingenious – they could hardly be serious or betoken anything serious. The notion of their being ‘something the matter’ did not emerge until some three years later, when diabetes developed.

I love the subtleties of language. I had to parse this passage a few times to be sure that the possessive pronoun "their" was correct, rather than the existential "there" pronoun. "Their", of course (he says, like he knew all along), refers back to the mistakes mentioned in the previous sentence. But the existential "there" would also work, and work well, albeit at the expense of less cohesion within the passage. Very nicely done.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I love the subtleties of language. I had to parse this passage a few times to be sure that the possessive pronoun "their" was correct, rather than the existential "there" pronoun. "Their", of course (he says, like he knew all along), refers back to the mistakes mentioned in the previous sentence. But the existential "there" would also work, and work well, albeit at the expense of less cohesion within the passage. Very nicely done.

Same here ... I think the phrase "... their being 'something the matter'" was the bit that triggered a pause and re-reading in my case. I suspect this was a result of the face value mismatch between 'their' (plural) and 'something' (singular) - a mismatch amplified by the strong equivalence implied in the use of 'being' (as opposed to, say, 'representing' or 'indicating').

 

[brownmane]

Just on the broader subject of grammar, I was taught it in school, but all of the rules make little sense. I learned more by reading. All writers have their own styles. While reading you somehow learn the pauses and what type of punctuation creates what type of pause. Not scientific, but intuitive.

 

[Yithian]

The replacement of the inter-sentence gap with the semi-colon "flows" the reader along to the subsequent clause and thus treats the trailing bit as if it were unavoidable or obvious.

Precisely that.

I remember seeing a TV documentary about punctuation (I wish I could recall the details).

This example from the host (somebody famous) was of seeing a poster on the New York subway with a photograph of a passenger leaving a newspaper on the seat as he got off.

The caption was:

Please put it in a trashcan; that's good news for everyone.​

​

Now that's a slightly smug example, but I have to admit that I admire it.

Source:
https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=gIuUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT294&lpg=PT294&dq=;+thats+better+for+everyone+semicolon+poster&source=bl&ots=o4IeSQjRkX&sig=ACfU3U1eIqSr63kldN-ASp8xO7A61zZkww&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiY6ImP97DnAhVCQd4KHSy8CIsQ6AEwEnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=; thats better for everyone semicolon poster&f=false

 

[Mikefule]

I am uncertain as to their usage, this after reading many descriptions and examples, including in teacher training books. I gave up a long time ago and mostly avoid them but occasionally stick them in longer sentences which I feel don't need to be broken up.

Can the august posters on the forum please illuminate me?

Two ways to use a semicolon:

1) To emphasise that two short sentences are closely related, often because they are opposites. Example: "They were very different people. He was tall, quiet and reserved; she was short, bubbly and sociable." In this use, the semicolon is slightly weaker than a full stop.

2) To break up complex lists, especially where there are also commas. Examples:

• "Those present included Sir John Smith, the MP for Chublett Mill, Lord Bowerly, the Captain of HMS Illustrious, and the Prime Minister." How many people here? 3 or 5?
• "Those present included Sir John Smith, the MP for Chublett Mill; Lord Bowerly, the Captain of HMS Illustrious; and the Prime Minister." In this version, there are definitely exactly 3 people present. The semicolons here show that Sir John Smith is the same person as the MP for Chublett Mill, and that Lord Bowerly is the same person as the Captain of HMS Illustrious. In this use, the semicolon is stronger than a comma.

The first usage (to unite two closely related sentences) is a little "clever clever" and may even be pretentious except if you are in a literary context.

The second usage is genuinely useful.

 

[Frideswide]

The first usage (to unite two closely related sentences) is a little "clever clever" and may even be pretentious except if you are in a literary context.

*shuffles feet and looks sad* :hurting:

 

[Mikefule]

*shuffles feet and looks sad* :hurting:

"May even be..." No offence. I use it myself a little too often. I have learned to rein in the tendency in work emails and the like.

 

[Frideswide]

@Mikefule

 

[GerdaWordyer]

Hey comma fans, live it up; have a dash at it--erm. I like punctuation that helps mimic speech. They're the"uhmms/erms" of casual writing.

 

[ChasFink]

When I saw this topic I considered saying a semicolon is what you use when you give half a shit about something; I decided that was too lowbrow for this thread.

 

[Yithian]

The extract is from my second favourite reference book. Apologies for the wonky photography; it's a first edition and I didn't want to flex the spine.

I know it's an acquired taste, but I take pleasure in reading the stately-cum-clinical style.

Note: Partridge uses the terms 'Principal' and 'Principal Clause' to mean an 'independent' or 'main' clause. i.e. a group of words that could or actually does stand alone as a grammatically complete sentence.

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

The extract is from my second favourite reference book. Apologies for the wonky photography; it's a first edition and I didn't want to flex the spine.

I know it's an acquired taste, but I take pleasure in reading the stately-cum-clinical style.

Note: Partridge uses the terms 'Principal' and 'Principal Clause' to mean an 'independent' or 'main' clause. i.e. a group of words that could or actually does stand alone as a grammatically complete sentence.

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What a fascinating book, thanks for sharing. I too enjoy reading that 'style'.

Your earlier quote from Oliver Sachs also made for enjoyable reading.

 

[WanderingFox]

As far as I'm concerned, Oliver Sacks' little tale is a work of grammatical beauty. The only nitpick I have is it being one big block of text; I prefer my prose in smaller, more digestible chunks. Readability is paramount to me in my writing, more particularly that the prose sounds good when read aloud, dialogue especially, and the semi-colon is a stalwart ally in that.

It can add so much colour to a speech pattern, or a descriptive paragraph, even completely change its tenor. it can be elegant, straying into pretentious; fragmented and disjointed, a stream of conciousness in a moment of panic or alarm or haste; and it can highlight details with little asides, or contrast them. Of course, you can overuse them, and I'm likely guilty of that - more than once I've crammed at least four into a single sentence that wasn't a list, and part of me's tempted to try for more.

Of course, this is just my preference; grammar is to a fair degree subjective, after all. More a set of guidelines than actual rules.