Our Friend, the Semicolon

1. Our Friend, the Semicolon

2. OUR FRIEND, THE SEMICOLON Semicolons are sophisticated and versatile. - Since 1802 SEMICOLON BEFRIENDS ADAMS STUDENTS Sarah Semicolon came to Adams Middle School on February 1, 2010 as a seventh grader. ris graecis appetere mea. At vim odio lorem omnes, pri id iuvaret partiendo. Vivendo menandri et sed. Lorem volumus blandit cu has.Sit cu alia porro fuisset. Ea pro natum invidunt repudiandae, his et facilisis vituperatoribus. Mei eu ubique altera senserit, consul eripuit accusata has ne. Ignota verterem te nam, eu cibo causae menandri vim. Sit rebum erant dolorem et, sed odio error ad.Vel molestie corrumpit deterruisset ad In libris graecis appetere mea. At vim odio lorem omnes, pri id iuvaret partiendo. Vivendo menandri et sed. Lorem volumus blandit cu has.Sit cu alia porro fuisset. Ea pro natum invidunt repudiandae, his et facilisis vituperatoribus. Mei eu ubique altera senserit, consul eripuit accusata has ne. Ignota verterem te nam, eu cibo causae menandri vim. Sit rebum erant dolorem et, sed odio error ad.Vel molestie corrumpit deterruisset ad, mollis ceteros ad sea.

3. Our Friend, the Semicolon Let’s begin with a simple sentence: Grandma stays up too late.

4. Our Friend, the Semicolon Now let’s expand on that a bit: Grandma stays up too late. She’s afraid she’s going to miss something. This is OK. Two independent ideas, separated by a period.

5. Our Friend, the Semicolon What if we try to combine the two ideas? Grandma stays up too late, she’s afraid she’s going to miss something. Something’s wrong. We connected two independent clauses with only a comma. The dreaded COMMA SPLICE!

6. Our Friend, the Semicolon We could insert a coordinating conjunction: Grandma is afraid she’ll miss something, so she stays up too late. This is better! Note the comma that accompanies the coordinating conjunction.

7. Our Friend, the Semicolon We could also try subordinating one of these ideas: Grandma stays up too late because she’s afraid she’s going to miss something. Notice that the comma disappeared. One idea (the second one) now depends on the other; it has become a dependent clause.

8. Our Friend, the Semicolon But let’s try something else. ENTER THE SEMICOLON !

9. Our Friend, the Semicolon Let’s try using a semicolon in this sentence. Grandma stays up too late; she’s afraid she’s going to miss something. Notice there is no conjunction used with this semicolon – either subordinating or coordinating. Just the semicolon, all by itself.

10. Our Friend, the Semicolon Sometimes semicolons are accompanied by conjunctive adverbs – words such as however, moreover, therefore, nevertheless, consequently, as a result. Grandma is afraid she’s going to miss something; as a result, she stays up too late.

11. Our Friend, the Semicolon Notice the pattern: ; as a result, semicolon + conjunctive adverb + comma This is a typical construction with semicolons.

12. Our Friend, the Semicolon There is one other use of the semicolon: to help us sort out monster lists, like this one: The committee included Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics, from Marlborough, Connecticut, Virginia Villa, Professor of English, from Hartford, Connecticut, Paul Creech, Director of Rad-Tech, from Essex, Connecticut, and Joan Leach, Professor of Nursing, from Farmington, Connecticut.

13. Credits http://languagearts.pppst.com/semicolons-colons.html Click on “Our Friend, The Semicolon”