Thank God for clickbait…
Most dictionaries and website sources say that a
semicolon is “more pronounced than a comma yet less pronounced than that of a
period.” But what does that even mean? Let’s cut through the BS, shall we?
To be frank, punctuation is a visual tool used by
writers to more effectively communicate with the audience. So, use a semicolon
when the meaning of your sentence is obscured by too many commas. Better put:
if a semicolon makes a sentence easier to understand visually, then use a
semicolon.
That’s it! Well, kind of. Above is the foundation for
semicolon usage and why the semicolon was first introduced into the English
language. Here’s the full rule: use semicolons when you (1) have too many
commas in a sentence and (2) want to separate two or more distinct phrases
without using a period.
One common use for semicolons is in lists. For example:
Three corpses slumped in the backseat:
bald-headed Joe, who sat on the left side of the backseat bench with a smoking
revolver and a slit throat; curly-haired Lucas, sitting on the right side with
a knife in his chest; and sharp-chinned Marty, who sat in the middle with a
bullet still lodged in his brain.
I used a semicolon here instead of a comma, because I
had already used a comma while describing each of the three dead men. However,
if you don’t like the use of semicolons, the simple answer is to rewrite the
sentence.
Three corpses slumped in the backseat. Bald-headed
Joe sat on the left side of the backseat bench with a smoking revolver and a
slit throat. Curly-haired Lucas sat on the right side with a knife in his
chest. Sharp-chinned Marty sat in the middle with a bullet still lodged in his
brain.
Both ways are correct. Whichever style more closely matches
how you write is what you should use.
Another common use is to combine two independent yet
similar clauses—in this case, similar can means the continuation of a
singular idea from the preceding clause. For example:
The doctor reached through the
shattered rear-window and felt for a pulse; he found none.
This sentence can also be rewritten:
The doctor reached through the
shattered rear-window and felt for a pulse. He found none.
Or even:
The doctor reached through the
shattered rear-window and felt for a pulse but found none.
Now, a lot of “experts” believe that semicolons should
be used sparingly. However, if semicolons are a part of your style of writing
and is a way that you are making a sentence easier for others to understand,
then why does it matter? The argument for scarcity is that a semicolon loses
its impact if it is used too often.
We would argue that punctuation is not supposed to have
an impact. Anything that distracts a reader from the story—including
punctuation—is supposed to be a visual cue for an audience to understand your
meaning. Passed that, punctuation is meaningless. So, if you like to use a lot
of semicolons, its fine as long as you are consistent in their use. Our reasons
for such can be found in a similar article entitled, Punctuation Doesn’t Matter.
For us personally, we like to use semicolons in lists,
as long as the sentence doesn’t become overtly long. If a semicolon makes a
sentence longer than 50 words, we break up the list into complete sentences
because it’s far clearer to the reader. However, we avoid semicolons for the
use of combining sentences. It makes more sense for us to rewrite those two
sentences than use a semicolon, but neither option is wrong.
Simply put, the use of semicolons is part of a writer’s
style and shouldn’t be dictated by a style guide. If you’re the writer, then
it’s your choice. Don’t let others make that choice for you.
