Ghostly Grammar: How to Actually Use Semicolons

Like a period, but precocious!

The semicolon is a weird one. It has very little function of its own, and what little function it does serve is rare, fringe, and occasionally redundant. If we were to remake the entire English language from scratch today, there very likely wouldn’t be a semicolon included at all, and comma splices would be standard.

Nevertheless, they’re still pretty popular, so let’s dive in!

Semicolon Usage: Dependent and Independent Clauses

Semicolons actually aren’t that hard. Their rules are pretty straightforward, and their use cases are minimal. If you’d like to know all the hows and whys, feel free to read through this section. Otherwise, jump down to “The Easiest Grammar Test Ever.”

First, let’s talk clauses.

The purpose of a semicolon is very simply linking together two independent clauses that are closely related. Now, what’s an independent clause, and how does that differ from a dependent clause?

An independent clause is a clause that can stand on its own, and expresses a complete thought. These are your basic sentence structures, featuring a subject, and a verb, all of which can stand on their own.

You can link independent clauses into a single sentence, often through a coordinating conjunction, such as “and,” “or,” or “but.”

However, if the sentences are independent clauses, and they’re closely-related, you can conjoin them without the use of a conjunction, should you prefer. This is the case in which you use a semicolon.

By contrast, a dependent clause is a clause that cannot stand on its own.

There’s several different types of dependent clause (that’s a conversation for a different another day) but their main feature is that they’re not complete thoughts. These are phrases such as “whenever the train stops,” “since she told me what to buy,” or “even though I had said no.”

These are all incomplete thoughts, and would require an independent clause to function. What’s important to remember about these is that you cannot use a semicolon to link a dependent clause, but you can use it to link two independent clauses.

However, you don’t necessarily need to know any of this, if you just use the the super-easy semicolon test.

The Easiest Test Grammar Test Ever

Here’s the rule on “Is the semicolon used properly?” Whenever you’re wondering, simply look at the semicolon in question and ask yourself the following:

“Can I replace this with a period and be grammatically correct?”

If the answer is yes, congratulations, this is correct usage of a semicolon!

If the answer is no, you likely want a different piece of punctuation, most commonly a comma or colon.

Self-Test/Examples:

Are the following usages correct?

1. Mom said that she only needed a few things from the store; bread, milk and eggs.
2. I was reading a really nice novel this weekend; I think you’d like it!
3. I wish that I could find a way to tell him how I feel; like the way he stays on my mind.
4. Whenever you start your day; you should sit down with a glass of orange juice.

1. An incorrect use of a semicolon, and probably the most common. Here, the author should be using a colon, as a list follows. Naturally, a list is a dependent clause.
2. Correct, and probably the best use of the semicolon. They’re two closely-related sentences that pertain to each other and are ultimately better together.
3. Totally incorrect: the second clause “like the way he stays on my mind” is dependent, and cannot stand on its own.
4. This is a tricky one. The clause at the start of the beginning of the sentence appears to have both a subject and a verb. That makes it a sentence, right? Nope! This is a dependent clause, it cannot stand on its own. Again, do your easy grammar test: can you put a period in place of a semicolon?

Okay, that’s easy enough, now when SHOULD I use a semicolon?

Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that simple, if there were just grammar laws on looked nice, and what kinds of sentence we should use when writing? The short answer is, as it is with all grammar, “as often as you need to,” but caution yourself on overuse.

I’m of the belief that on the punctuation version of the food pyramid, the semicolon is almost all the way at the top, just below the exclamation points. That is to say, “use as sparingly as possible.”

My rule of thumb is, if it is at all possible to avoid using a semicolon, do so. In my opinion, the only time you should really be using one over the regular period is when the sentences are so closely-related that separating them weakens the connection between the two.

For example:

“He started running; it was all that he was ever good at.”

This is a proper use of a semicolon, and to put a full stop between the two is to severely weaken the connection between the two ideas.

“He started running. It was all that he was ever good at.”

See? This doesn’t doesn’t have the same punch. Both two are correct, certainly, but they’re the same thought, expressed through two different independent clauses; to separate them would be to understate either part of them.

Other Rare Uses of a Semicolon

So, before you go, there’s a few other, rare odd jobs that Mr. Semicolon performs. They’re not his main job, of course, but more side-hustles he picks up in his spare time.

Separating Items in a Complex List

You’re writing a sentence which contains a list, usually separated commas. However, you’ve got multiple lists and simply using a comma between everything would be confusing.

Here you can think of the semicolon as taking over some extra work for the comma, since it’s already being overused with its primary use in the sentence.

“Mom said to buy bread, milk, and eggs from the grocery; grab a fan, plunger and wrench from the hardware store; and pick up the dry cleaning, pay the water bill, and drop off a letter while we’re in town.”

You could simply use commas in place of these semicolons, but then you run the risk of losing clarity, and confusing your reader. Are you supposed to pick up the dry cleaning from the hardware store? Grab a fan from the grocery?

You also don’t want to separate these into individual sentences, lest you run the risk of the sentences getting repetitive. Thus, we have our semicolon to the rescue to avoid a confusing, long list.

Do note that if you’re writing nonfiction, please write that as a bulleted list, instead.

Semicolon with a Conjunction

As said above, typically, you don’t use a semicolon with a conjunction. In that case, a comma will do the job.

There are, however, very, very few fringe cases in which you’d use a semicolon with a conjunction. They are the fringe of all fringe cases. but they do exist. Similar to the above example, you would if and ONLY if using a comma would cause additional confusion, due to your sentence being heavy on commas already.

As an example, consider if you were writing about someone reviewing case two files:

James, Age 22, was a baker; and George, Age 30, was a parole officer.

Most writers would not use this construction, and simply use an additional comma. Personally, when editing, I would not, and do not use this. I find it stilted, and I think it resembles an error.

However, for those who enjoy the most obscure of obscure grammar rules, it exists. A rarely-used rule for a rarely-used piece of punctuation!