The Semi-colon

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The Semi-colon

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For the most part, the semi-colon is a
punctuation mark which students would do well to
avoid. The temptation is to misuse it, as if it
were either a comma or a colon. Although it has
physical resemblances to both of the other
punctuation marks, it does not really behave like
either. If a colon behaves like anything, it
behaves like a period. Once in a very great
while it will be used as a sort of intensified
commabut more of that later.
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The first thing that I should like to stress
about the semi-colon is that when it is used, it
behaves like a fulcrum, i.e., it balances two
complete thoughts. In other words, it stands as
a sort of pivot between two sentences. If the
elements it balances are not both sentences, the
semi-colon has been misused. Indeed, I would go
so far as to say that if the semi-colon cannot be
replaced by a period, then a mistake has been
made. In general, there is no need for a
semi-colon, and the language would (and does)
function quite nicely without one. Although I
would not recommend using semi-colons, if you do
feel an overwhelming compulsion to use them to
link sentences, then understand that the content
of both sentences should be closely related.
(Again, think of the image of a fulcrum,
balancing two equal elements.)
Last summer I visited Paris it is probably the
most beautiful city in the world.
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The whole notion of the semi-colon is one of
balance or symmetry.

balances
balances
balances
balances
A sentence
A sentence
Content matter
Content matter
Last week my brother died
it was the worst week of my life.
Last week we were married
we are so very happy.
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There is one other circumstance in which the
semi-colon is used to good effect, although the
occurrence is infrequent. In a sentence where
the number of commas would otherwise cause undue
confusion, semi-colons may act as a sort of
intensive comma. The following sentence is
admittedly difficult to understand, despite its
being worded clearly enough There were a number
of guests at the reception, among them my mother,
who flew all the way in from Zimbabwe, my aunt,
who came all the way from South Africa, my uncle,
who is visiting from Switzerland, and my best
friend, Brian, from California. The sentence is
far more readily understood when the commas
separating the elements in the list are
represented, instead, as semi-colons There were
a number of guests at the reception, among them
my mother, who flew all the way in from Zimbabwe
my aunt, who came all the way from South Africa
my uncle, who is visiting from Switzerland and
my best friend, Brian, from California.
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That is virtually all you will ever need to know
about semi-colons. In my opinion, it is a
punctuation mark which is passing out of
existence. For the most part, the language
functions perfectly well without it and it can,
with no perceptible sacrifice to style, be
replaced by a period. My general advice to
would-be users of the semi-colon is as follows
When confronted by the temptation to use the
semi-colon, RESIST IT.
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The End
PowerPoint Presentation by Mark A. Spalding, BA,
MEd, MA (2008).