Learn English and meet people on the world’s largest EFL social network

We have partnered with TradePub to bring you free industry magazines and resources - no coupons or credit cards required!

Visit: englishforums.tradepub.com


Share this topic:
This question is Not Answered
Latest post Mon, Mar 1 2004 10:33 AM by jinger on digi. 2 replies.
Suggest an answer | | |
jinger on digi  +  24116 Mon, 01 Mar 04 10:33 AM
Can someone give me examples of where i would use semicolons... thanks
Joined on Mon, Mar 1 2004
New Member 01
rommie  +  24125 Mon, 01 Mar 04 01:40 PM
A semicolon unites clauses which are of similar importance and which are closely related.

Example:
The ground was wet; it had been raining that day.

Often you'll have to choose between a semicolon and a period (but rarely between a semicolon and a comma). Neither choice will necessarily be wrong, but your choice will affect the flow of the paragraph.

Rommie
Joined on Mon, Jan 26 2004
Earth orbit
Regular Member 606
Chameleon  +  24145 Mon, 01 Mar 04 05:54 PM
There are other (less common) uses for the semicolon too.

1) To join a list of phrases or items that already contain commas:

"The digitaries who signed the 1945 surrender of Japan were as follows: General Douglas McArthur and Admiral Chester H. Nimitz, United States; Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, United Kingdom; General Hsu Yung-Chang, China; Lt. General Kuzma Nikolaevish Derevyanko, USSR; General Sir Thomas Blamey, Australia; Colonel L. Moore Cosgrave, Canada; Admiral C.E.L. Helfrich, Netherlands; Air Vice Marshall Isitt, New Zealand; General B.J. LeClerc, France; Mr. Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu, Japan."

(educational sidetrack Smile [:)] )

2) To join two main clauses that might otherwise use transitional phrases ("on the other hand", "as a result", etc.):

"I said I'd eat dinner; I didn't say when I would eat."

3) To seperate two clauses joined with conjunctive adverbs (also, anyway, finally, hence, however, instead, next, therefore, and thus):

"I waited for my date for thirty minutes; she finally came."
Joined on Wed, Feb 18 2004
Full Member 174
© MediaCet Ltd. 2009, v5.0.3598.39794. All content posted by our users is a contribution to the public domain, this does not include imported usenet posts.*
For web related enquires please contact us on webmaster@mediacet.com, status updates are available at status.mediacet.com.
*Usenet post removal: Use 'X-No-Archive'. You may not have understood that your posts would end up in the public domain. Please send proof of the poster's email, we will remove immediately.