the Semicolon! September 20, 2007
Posted by arussell in : Punctuation , trackbackMy favorite punctuation mark is the semicolon. But there is sometimes a lot of confusion about how it is to be used. The rule to remember when using a semicolon is to make sure there is a complete sentence on either side of the semicolon. Conjunctions, such as “and”, “or” or “but” are also not supposed to be used with a semi-colon. It can stand all on its own, taking the place of the conjunction.
For example: In 1800, a traveler needed six weeks to get from New York City to Chicago; in 1860, the trip by railroad took only two days.
That is the most common use of the semi-colon. But there are some others. It is used with conjunctive adverbs, such as however or therefore.
For example: The media like to portray my generation as lazy; however, polls show that we work as hard as the twentysomethings before us.
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