How Semicolons Are Used In Writing.
Let’s talk about semicolons (semi-colons), today!
What are semicolons? They are punctuation marks — symbols to help us understand the written (english) language.
Now, let’s discuss semicolons and how they are used in writing…
1 || Semicolons create a pause.
Think of punctuation marks as a traffic light. A period would act as a red light signaling a complete stop at the end of a clause (sentence). A semicolon, however, would act as a yellow light signaling a pause. When using semicolons in writing, the writer typically wants to transition into another (relatable) thought without abruptly stopping — which brings me to my next point.
2 || Semicolons merge two relatable clauses.
A semicolon connects two clauses together, so it’s important that the two clauses are talking about similar things. *A clause is grammatical unit, similar to a sentence, including a subject and predicate.* For example, if you’re writing a text message to a friend about another friend’s weekend, you can use a semicolon by typing, “Josh didn’t go to the movies; he went to the mall instead.” This is one sentence with two clauses separated by a semicolon, but please note that the clauses can be complete sentences if a period is added to the end.
3 || Semicolons don’t require capitalization.
What do I mean by this? Well, let’s stick with the above-mentioned example. Notice that the word (pronoun) following the semicolon is “he” and the “h” is not capitalized. That’s because “he” is NOT a proper noun. When using semicolons in writing, there’s no need in capitalizing the first letter of the word following the punctuation mark, unless the word is a proper noun.
I hope this blog post was helpful.
I challenge you to use more semicolons in your writing (but don’t go crazy with ‘em); semicolons add variety to sentence structure.
Always strive to #LookBetterInWriting.
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