How to use a semicolon | Connect your thoughts

How to use a semicolon

I’ve often heard people refer to semicolons as “more powerful than a comma but less powerful than a full stop”, which is semi true. This doesn’t quite unpack how to use one though.

The trick is to remember that they combine two independent clauses into one sentence—and those clauses should be connected in theme. This connection is strengthened with a semicolon.

Translation: Use a semicolon to connect two related, complete sentences. It’s easiest to understand when you’ve got some examples to go by:

We must be good to one another; kindness makes a difference.

There is but one other way to use a semicolon, and that is to separate items in a list that already contain commas.

The box of trinkets contained various necklaces; red, blue, and green marbles; a pair of earrings; and one plastic pig, which had a displeased expression on its face.

Why do some writers hate semicolons?

Ambiguity. I have a theory it’s because they live in the grey area—the uncanny valley of the grammar world. Vonnegut is famed for saying they’re “transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.” Orwell deliberately avoided them in Coming up for Air. Hemingway couldn’t abide them. Ben Macintyre, a columnist in The Times, claims:

"Americans have long regarded the semi-colon with suspicion, as a genteel, self.”

Whether it’s the uncertainty of how to use one correctly, the punctuation visual of sitting on the fence between a hard stop and a pause, or the deliberately fluid manner in which they’re used, semicolons are definitely philosophers—they’re pretentious, even.

They are not black and white or bullish or forceful, but thoughtful and pondering and lingering; they tell stories by connecting threads. They show trains and trails of thought—relating ideas together—which is arguably the definition of creativity. Maybe that’s why I kinda like ‘em.

If I was to go even further down this path, I might even argue that they’re feminist. Certainly they contrast with typical masculine styles, Hemingway being the most exemplary. I love Vonnegut, but what’s wrong with transvestite hermaphrodites?

Following connected ideas through the looking glass is where things get interesting. Making debate binary make news snackable and clickable, but refusing to simplify stories and arguments into two sides is progressive—and often more honest. Digging into those shades of grey is fresh, unexplored territory, so I think semicolons can stay.