Semicolon

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Wushu

#14589 Tue, 02 Dec 03 12:13 AM

Semicolons, to me are very confusing. Thus, I rarely ever use them.

I've searched the internet for examples to avoid asking a probably, very repetitive question on this board, but can you guys write me a few sentences to show how a semicolon is used?

A few examples would help a lot.

Edit:

Okay, after seeing something on this site I see that Semi-Colon's are used to connect related sentences (thoughts), or something. I knew this already, but I saw like one good example.

Can semi colons be used in a long sentence, where you already have many commas but you don't want to stop the sentence with a "."?

I am thinking this can't be done.

Wushu

Joined on Sat, Aug 30 2003

North America

New Member (30)

Colons, Commas, Semicolons

hitchhiker

#14614 Tue, 02 Dec 03 09:49 AM

Hi Wushu, This should help a bit: Semicolon, Comma, Colon

Always avoid sentences that are tooooooo long; it just doesn't look good!

hitchhiker

Joined on Mon, Nov 18 2002

Malta, Europe

Senior Member (3,389)

OK, so ten out of ten for style, but minus several million for good thinking, yeah?

Colons, Commas, Semicolons

Wushu

#14693 Wed, 03 Dec 03 01:09 AM

Yes, I saw that previously. I just wanted to double check. I find my self in more situations that aren't shown, where I wonder if I should use a semi colon or not.

How about this sentence:

"Here it is; solid proof that dogs are better than cats."

Wushu

Colons

ryan smith

#14711 Wed, 03 Dec 03 05:20 AM

I would use a comma on that one, since the "solid proof" part doesn't stand on it's own.

In other words, if you can't use a period (full stop) then you can't use a semi-colon.

There is one exception that I can think of (and I think you mentioned it): In lists where any element has a comma, you can use a semi-colon to offset the elements.

I bought the A, B, and C; the D; and the E.

As far as colons go, what's on the left must be gramatically complete. What's on the right is a definition of what's on the left.

See this site for a few examples (and examples of colons too):

http://www.grammartips.homestead.com/colons.html

ryan smith

Joined on Tue, Sep 9 2003

CLASSIFIED

Full Member (199)

Colons, Commas

Wushu

#14720 Wed, 03 Dec 03 07:06 AM

"As far as colons go, what's on the left must be gramatically complete. What's on the right is a definition of what's on the left. "

Thanks!

That is the kind of thing I can easily remember when writing timed essays!

Wushu

Colons, Essays