How do you use a semicolon?

Question

My friends say you can use them in lists like.. I had eggs; bread; cookies and chocolate. But i think it looks weird like that and have been told that you just use a comma.

Can you use them to say things like...I look around, steeping carefully on the floor as if there's a bomb under me ready to explode; though it's actually because I don't want to get mud on the floor.

Idk

Can you give me some examples and explain the rules of when and when not to use them?

Answer 1

Use a semicolon to separate items in a list when the items are long and potentially complex in meaning. In this usage, the semicolon replaces the comma that usually separates items in a list. This is because a semicolon is more noticeable and thus better suited for longer items. For example:The student council advisor felt it was important for each new member to learn the procedures for running meetings; to share past experiences working in team environments; and to outline individual goals for the year.



Use a semicolon to separate items in a list when items contain additional punctuations. This usage is similar to the previous one. In this one, you use semicolons in a list when an individual item in the list has commas of its own. This is done simply to prevent confusion. For example:Students were instructed to bring two spiral notebooks; one-inch, two-inch, and three-inch binders; and mechanical pencils.



How to Use Semicolons | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2303337_use-semicolons.html#ixzz26Wc6T4m5

Answer 2

List-

Fares were offered to Paris, France; Corfu, the Greek Island; Petit Martinique, in the Grenadines; and the isle of Barra, Scotland.



I would use in a list when each item is longer than one or two words. In your example eggs etc commas are better.



Joining parts of a sentence-

I remember him when he couldn't write his name on a gate; now he's Prime Minister.

the subject of the two halves is the same, a comma does not give such a dramatic pause, the semicolon is just enough where a full stop would be too staccato. It depends how it would sound read aloud.

Answer 3

Here's a good explanation of them: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/04/



They CAN be used in the lists, but tha'ts only if items in the list contain commas. So if you were to list a bunch of cities and their states, you can use semicolons for clarity purposes (Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; and Albany, New York).



It wouldn't work in your second example because the right hand side isn't an independent clause.

Answer 4

exciting question, Dix. i like a good semicolon. They get tossed around in my sentences as much as available to offer them the exercising they does no longer get in any different case. As you have pronounced, a lot of human beings do no longer use semicolons anymore. The Victorian style seems to have been to apply particularly some semicolons to create long-term-on sentences. the craze today seems to have replaced. no longer being one to stick to developments, I delight in the two. In the two case, till masterfully executed, the writing can look amateurish. I confess to having a undeniable tendency to randomly throw in a team of commas, semicolons and colons quite of taking Kabum's outstanding suggestion. (understanding the policies of punctuation does not help in case you do no longer consistently stick to them.) with a bit of luck Vet is incorrect while he says the semicolon's day is over. that's a good gadget. possibly my opinion is with the aid of being stuffy (properly, my nostril is, besides), Victorian (the literature is outstanding) and previous shaped (be conscious the substitution?). ***word: psychological wellness, huh? that particularly is humorous. possibly that's because of the fact of lots of the insanity (with out stating something especially) that has taken place in B&A interior the previous year? ***Edit) I do the comparable component while a semicolon would have been used quite of a number of classes. that's a distraction if the circulate seems awkward. As a word, the extreme use of commas replaced into additionally considered in Victorian literature (however no longer as stream of expertise). In A tale of two cities, Charles Dickens starts with a paragraph-long sentence, packed with commas yet no semicolons. It replaced into useful. ***you need to have pronounced the aristocratic nature of semicolons till now, Vet. while you're appropriate approximately it, i'd greater helpful follow commas. As an aside, only how a lot -do- commas make, in around words? :) ***thank you for the comma information, Vet. After utilising them particularly indiscriminately, possibly I ought to upload my bit to the "help the comma" fund.

Answer 5

It's a sort of pause midway through a sentence, just short of a full stop.

Answer 6

see http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=using+semicolons&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz35

hope that helps