WHAT IS A SEMICOLON?
A semicolon (;) is a stronger mark of punctuation than a comma but not as strong as a period. A
semicolon is used between equal grammatical elements such as independent clauses and items in
a series.
A semicolon may be used in place of a period to connect two in-
dependent clauses when the two clauses share a close relation-
ship.
Mary went to the grocery store this afternoon; she purchased food
for tonight’s dinner.
Tom didn’t have enough time to finish his exam; his class was only
an hour long.
A semicolon can also be used to join two independent clauses
together with a conjunctive adverb (i.e. however, neverthe-
less, therefore). The semicolon is placed after the first inde-
pendent clause and before the conjunctive adverb, and a
comma is needed after the conjunctive adverb in front of the
second independent clause.
Brad knew of many different roofers to do the job; however, he called Ulti-
mate Roofers to do the job because the owner is his cousin.
Maggie has always been an excellent skier; nevertheless, her parents were
always wary of having their little girl on the slopes.
Note: Semicolons do not link dependent clauses to independent clauses.
[Incorrect] Because it was snowing heavily; we decided to stay home.
[Correct] It was snowing heavily; we decided to stay home.
Semicolons can also be used to separate items in a list if the
elements in the series already include commas.
The top five most visited cities in the United States are: New York, New
York; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; Orlando, Florida; and
Chicago, Illinois.
The members of Bon Jovi include Jon Bon Jovi, vocalist and guitarist;
Richie Sambora, guitarist; Tico Torres, drummer; and David Bryan, key-
boardist.
Last modified 8/11/11
