The Power of a Semicolon
the pregnant pause in punctuation
The semicolon is so often misused, misunderstood, and overlooked; it’s a punctuation mark that can make such a profound difference in a sentence.
Here is an example from a workshop I facilitated today. Resilience was the theme; we explored what resilience meant and how we tap into it in our lives. After a brief discussion about the resilience many of us have demonstrated during the pandemic, we got into a little deeper conversation about how we can cultivate resilience in our lives.
That’s when the semicolon entered the stage.
Somewhere between the brief rest stimulated by a comma and the hard-stop following a period, we find the semicolon, the pregnant pause of punctuation. It sits in a powerful, almost transformative position, as it takes the first part of a sentence and either twists it or amplifies it.
Abraham Lincoln’s use of semicolons is known throughout his speeches and his declaration of: “I must say I have a great respect for the semicolon; it’s a useful little chap.” So I took this idea to my group as we discussed…
