Tonight, though, there seems to be a delay; I pick up from the chatter that something special is going on. -Patricia McCormick, Cut

1
Tonight, though, there seems to be a delay I
pick up from the chatter that something special
is going on.-Patricia McCormick, Cut

• 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 became junior volunteer fireman
  Dad became a junior volunteer fireman.
• -David Rice, Give the Pig a Chance and Other
  Stories

• 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 children played and the city, state,
  and federal governments went about their
  business.
• -Jim Murphy, An American Plague

2
Semicolon

• Purposes
• 1. Acts like a softer period between sentences
  with linked ideas.
• 2. Semicolons separate items in lists with items
  that contain commas.

3

• I settle down with my National Geographic
  magazine while Sophia carefully arranges
  completed chunks of THE HARDEST JIGSAW EVER MADE
  onto the laundry sorting table. This is the
  puzzle that, if she ever manages to complete,
  will award her with a famed certificate plus
  shell have her name added to a list of all the
  other weirdos in the world who have also managed
  to put it together. I think there are five.
• -Sara Nickerson, How to Disappear Completely and
  Never be Found

• Outdoors throbbed with autumn. She could feel
  the pulse of the deep-blue skies. With every
  leaf wrenched off its twig and whirled by the
  wind. Janie felt a tug. She felt like driving
  for hours taking any road at all just going.
• -Caroline B. Cooney, The Face on the Milk Catron

4
With a partner figure out how these two sentences
could be combined using a semicolon.

• He was built more like a point guard. He just
  didnt have point-guard skills.
• Some of the names Danny knew just from following
  college hoops. Some he didnt, because not all
  of them were from big schools.

5

• A great spot-up shooter. He couldnt defend
  very well, move his feet fast enough to cover
  fast guys. He was built more like a point guard
  he just didnt have point-guard skills.
• The older guys were separated strictly by age
  today, thirteens with thirteens, fourteens with
  fourteens, like that, and went from a shooting
  clinic to a passing clinic to a defensive clinic,
  even to one for full-court presses, both zone and
  man-to-man, with a different college coach
  handling each station. Some of the names Danny
  knew just from the following college hoops some
  he didnt, because not all of them were from big
  schools.
• -Mike Lupica, Summer Ball

6
With your partner figure out where the semicolons
could go.

• Big eyes and full lips like a kids, smooth,
  clear skin, symmetrical features and a thousand
  other little clues.

7

• There was a certain kind of beauty, a prettiness
  that everyone could see. Big eyes and full lips
  like a kids smooth, clear skin symmetrical
  features and a thousand other little clues.
• -Scott Westerfeld, Uglies

8
Freewrite

• Use one smiley-face technique ? and a semicolon.
  Write as much as you can!
• Idea Starter At first the noise was very faint
  and seemed far away. It was an odd noise, one
  that the boys didnt recognize. As it moved
  closer, they went out to see what it might be.

9

• Write the sentence that includes your favorite
  use of a semicolon from your writing this week.
  Be ready to share!