Anonymous  +  259092 Fri, 25 Aug 06 06:19 AM Semi colon is used when we join two main clauses. 1. The clouds disappeared; the moon rose. But what if we had three main clause and we had to join the last clause with and. 2. The clouds disappeared; the moon rose and the storm started. Do we have to place a semicolon between the second and the third clause? GB Anonymous Clauses, Colons, Semicolons

	Mister Micawber  +  259150 Fri, 25 Aug 06 11:07 AM We do not use semicolons before coordinating conjunctions.  Your choices: The clouds disappeared; the moon rose; the storm started. The clouds disappeared, the moon rose, and the storm started. Actually, it is a bit unfair working with such short clauses.  The semicoloned sentence seems overweighted; we could even lose a comma from the second sentence (after rose).  If you insist on distancing the clouds from the rest of the action, it would be clearer if you simply made it a separate sentence:  The clouds disappeared.   The moon rose, and the storm started. Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,802 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.' Clauses, Colons, Commas, Semicolons