How to use a semicolon:

[JamesSavik]

How to use the semicolon: by the Oatmeal

[The Pecman]

I know of many, many writing textbooks that frown upon the semicolon. We were generally taught in journalism class to avoid it, and just start a new sentence.

I would never use it in dialog, but I could see using it in description.

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From the outside, the house looked vast and lonely. The paint had been chipped away by the ravages of time, and the roof was crushed along one side; rain had seeped in, causing the colors to fade to a muddy gray.

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So maybe that could work. Me, I think prose reads better when it's short and punchy, but it's a stylistic choice. I think Anne Rice uses semicolons from time to time, but she'll spend three pages establishing mood and setting, so there's a definite method to what she does.

I think in the wrong hands, semicolons are very dangerous. I'm hard-pressed to think of a case where two separate sentences wouldn't work as well as one sentence with a semicolon.

[DesDownunder]

Well, that's confused me. The article says to never use a semicolon with a conjunction, and then goes on to use it with 'and' in the "super comma" examples.

Think I will just go on sprinkling them in my sentences and let the editor suggest why I should be tortured to death for using a semicolon.

(I have always found it difficult to put a semi in a colon.)

[Cole Parker]

I tend to use semicolons, sparingly, where two separate thoughts are very closely connected and the one tends to lead into the other. The semicolon tends to support the connection between the two thougths, tends to show they're meant to be connected. A period separates them.

I can understand quite easily why students in a journalism class would be taught to avoid them. Rarely would news reporting style books support their use.

In Pec's example-- From the outside, the house looked vast and lonely. The paint had been chipped away by the ravages of time, and the roof was crushed along one side; rain had seeped in, causing the colors to fade to a muddy gray.-- I'd never use a semicolon there. It reads much better to replace that semicolon with a period. It's not wrong to use one there, but seems needlessly pedantic.

C

[The Pecman]

Yeah, I agree with Cole. One of the main criticisms I've read about semicolons is: they're heavy-handed and showy, as if the writer is trying to call attention to his (or her) cleverness.

If I had it in front of me, I'd consult Lynne Truss' book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. I think she generally has it right (albeit from the British point of view).

Some more good rules on semicolons at this link.

[Merkin]

Semi-colons are simply a part of the apparatus of written language. They have nothing to do with vanity or a desire to show off. They are essential to poets, who use them, along with commas, to control rhythm.

James

[vwl]

When editing after an author uses a run-on sentence separated by a comma, I will change it to a semicolon, figuring that the author wanted the two parts to work in concert.

Personally, however, I tend to agree with Pecman that two sentences are usually better than one with a semicolong -- but not always.

[The Pecman]

Merkin, my comments on semicolons really apply only to fiction and non-fiction writing. Poetry kind of sets it's own rules, and I think there's a lot of things you can do there (all lower-case, etc.) that are fine in that form.

I guess the key is: do you want just a little momentary pause between two sentences, or do you want to come to a full stop and then start a new sentence? The distinction is fairly subtle, and I can see where it could get overused very quickly.

[Cole Parker]

It's just another tool in our bag of tricks. How tricky we wish to be is up to us.

C

[DesDownunder]

Yes I understand your point Pec. I was taught, (I think), that the semicolon was to be used between two clauses with a correlated but additional or varying thought which did not warrant being in a separate sentence. As such I think you might see, we students were left feeling the whole choice of using a semicolon was quite subjective.

Furthermore we were told that if we were in doubt, then we should use two sentences, but if we used a semicolon properly we could expect to earn a higher mark in an exam.

I find the semicolon quite useful in technical writing where emphasis or expansion is required to affirm or clarify a direction or a description. In fiction however it can get in the way of a good story, but not I think, in an aside of a character's reflective thoughts, particularly if they are somewhat random.

From a dramatic point of view in a play, the semicolon is a clue for the actor to introduce a pause in the delivery. Actors, of course totally ignore such things, and that gave rise to Harold Pinter writing (PAUSE) all over his scripts.

The use of a comma to indicate a pause in reading is almost gone, it being assumed that we (the readers) will introduce such pauses automatically. As a device to divide the phrases to clarify meaning, then the comma is still very much needed. The use of the semicolon remains obscure or at least one of personal preference.

No one should use my writing as an example, my grammar is shocking, but not as shocking as my grandpa. <groan>

[The Pecman]

I find the semicolon quite useful in technical writing where emphasis or expansion is required to affirm or clarify a direction or a description.

I dunno. In the thousand-plus technical reviews I wrote over the past 20-mumble years, most of my editors would slap the crap out of me if I used a semicolon. I just don't think it's necessary. To me, short, punchy, concise sentences provide the greatest clarity for technical writing (and journalism). I use this as much as I can for my fiction, except in the rare cases where I'm going for an unusual stylistic effect.

Again, some of my favorite authors -- I'd put J.K. Rowling and Anne Rice in that category -- will use semicolons when establishing the setting for a new scene, particularly if it's very moody. More power to them. But I really, really think semicolons have to be used very sparingly.