Writeability

Ah, the semicolon. A mystery that continues to elude the masses, the semi-colon is one punctuation mark that most definitely deserves some attention.

According to Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, "Expectation is what these stops are all about; expectation and elastic energy. Like internal springs, they propel you forward in a sentence towards more information..." (2003:114).

As a general rule, the semicolon is used to join two related phrases in one sentence in such a way that a comma alone would not suffice. For example:

The garbage truck woke me this morning; it was out on the street earlier than usual.

I remember when you were just learning the alphabet; now you're a teacher with your own students!

The semicolon can also be used to add clarification when writing out lists. Using only commas, it can be difficult to decipher one item on the list from another. For instance:

I've lived in Mississauga, Ontario, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sydney, Australia, and Lanciano, Italy.

vs.

I've lived in Mississauga, Ontario; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Sydney, Australia; and Lanciano, Italy.

You may also find that the semicolon, in some cases, is interchangeable with the dash or ellipsis (...). The choice really depends on the style of the author. Lynne Truss reminds us, however,

so long as there remain sentences on this earth that begin with capital letters and end with full stops, there will be a place for the semicolon. True, its use is never obligatory, because a full stop ought always to be an alternative. But that only makes it the more wonderful (Ibid., 123).