Semicolon or comma?

Question

Can someone give me examples of where i would use semicolons... thanks

Rommie · Accepted Answer

A semicolon unites clauses which are of similar importance and which are closely related.

Example:
The ground was wet; it had been raining that day.

Often you'll have to choose between a semicolon and a period (but rarely between a semicolon and a comma). Neither choice will necessarily be wrong, but your choice will affect the flow of the paragraph.

Rommie

Chameleon · Answer

There are other (less common) uses for the semicolon too.

1) To join a list of phrases or items that already contain commas:

"The digitaries who signed the 1945 surrender of Japan were as follows: General Douglas McArthur and Admiral Chester H. Nimitz, United States; Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, United Kingdom; General Hsu Yung-Chang, China; Lt. General Kuzma Nikolaevish Derevyanko, USSR; General Sir Thomas Blamey, Australia; Colonel L. Moore Cosgrave, Canada; Admiral C.E.L. Helfrich, Netherlands; Air Vice Marshall Isitt, New Zealand; General B.J. LeClerc, France; Mr. Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu, Japan."

(educational sidetrack

)

2) To join two main clauses that might otherwise use transitional phrases ("on the other hand", "as a result", etc.):

"I said I'd eat dinner; I didn't say when I would eat."

3) To seperate two clauses joined with conjunctive adverbs (also, anyway, finally, hence, however, instead, next, therefore, and thus):

"I waited for my date for thirty minutes; she finally came."

Semicolon or comma?

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