The Semi-Colon - 3 Rules

There is much talk about semi-colons in the writing world. You will find memes on Facebook by, apparently, well-known authors telling you not to ever use them. Some people believe they are no longer in ‘fashion’ and are a big no-no in the writing world.

This is simply not true.

But they are a punctuation mark that can be easily abused if not understood correctly, and like most punctuation marks they should be used with thought and care. Only when no other mark – full stop or comma – will do, should they be considered.

As someone once said to me, they should only be used when you know what you’re doing. And my advice if you are unsure is: ‘if in doubt, leave it out - use a full stop instead’.

Semi-colons are never a ‘have-to’, they are an option. On occasion they ease the flow of the writing. 

To put it technically: 'their use is to separate main clauses that have different subjects and no are not linked by a conjunction.'  This means that they are two complete sentences with slightly different subjects (or view points) and not linked by another small word such as: 'and', 'but', 'or', 'for', 'so', 'nor'.  

Let's take a look at some examples: 

All around them, the courtyard bustled; the pop and fizz of soda bottles opening, the scent of pizza, and the sound of girlish giggles announced the first lunch of the year. 

The second sentence relates directly to the first sentence. You could use a full-stop, but with a semi-colon the eye leads on to the second part of the sentence creating a whole picture. I call this a ‘Semi-colon Moment’.

But the second sentence must refer to, or follow on from, the first sentence and be able to stand alone.

More examples: 

The strain started to take a toll on Ashley; her conscience itched.

He’d smiled just for her; the kind of smile she’d seen him give other girls and envied. 

Both sentences can stand alone, but they are enhanced by the semi-colon.

There are two other ways the semi-colon is used, and this time between sentence fragments. This occurs when a comma is not ‘strong’ enough to separate the items.

They can be used in a series of phrases or a list of names.

For example: 

He had called them all in, he needed them all; John Preston, the Union representative; Mark Withers, the Factory Manager; David Lindy, the CFO and his second in command; and Janice Price, the only shareholder that mattered. 

They can be used in a long sentence, which already contains several commas.

For example: 

Alice was on her way home when they caught up to her, and she was pleased they had; she didn’t like walking home alone, and it meant they could enjoy their time together. 

In the above example you could break many of these sentences into short, sharp ones, which is the current fashion, but it would also break the flow.

So let’s recap. 

The 3 main rules are:

1) Use a semi-colon to connect two complete sentences which directly relate to each other;

2) Use a semi-colon to set off a series of phrases which directly relate to each other;

3) Use a semi-colon to break a long sentence which already contains commas.

(And note how in the list above a semi-colon is used. This happens often, but people don’t really ‘see’ it. )

You maybe also ask, why use a semi-colon when you can use a colon? 

How the Semi-Colon differs from the Colon 

A colon states that a list is about to happen, whether a single items, or full sentences. For example: 

There are three levels: low, intermediate, and high. 

And when quoting something someone has said: 

When John spoke to Phillip he told him: “I won’t be made a fool of!” 

They can also be used when an explanation is about to follow - as show above before each example. 

I hope that makes sense, and that you might feel more confident using them.

And if you know of any more ways they can be used, feel free to let me know in the comments. 

Find more editing tip posts HERE.