How to Use a Semicolon

The semicolon might be the most misunderstood punctuation mark in the English language. This dot-comma combination is often used where a period, colon, or even a plain old comma belongs.

Underused and often abused, the semicolon is useful in a number of writing situations. Although proper semicolon use requires a little finesse, this particular punctuation mark is surprisingly easy to understand.

Here’s the lowdown on semicolon use:

• The semicolon establishes a close connection between two sentences or independent clauses.
• A semicolon can replace conjunctions and or but.
• Semicolons indicate a stronger separation than a comma.
• A semicolon is often used in lists to separate items when some of the items in listed subsets require commas.
• The semicolon is always followed by a lower case letter with proper nouns being the only exception (proper nouns are always capitalized).


• Semicolon use can be applied to separate two clauses or sentences that are saying the same thing in different ways.
• As with other punctuation marks that denote the end of a clause or sentence, there is no space between the semicolon and the word preceding it; there should be a single space after the semicolon.

Want real examples that show how to use a semicolon? You got ‘em!

• I watched the Grammy Awards last night; I was most pleased that Amy Winehouse won and thought it was a great show this year.
• I love music; however, I haven’t played my own guitar in several years.
• I have lived in several different cities: San Francisco, California; Haiku, Hawaii; and Santa Barbara, California.
• When I was in fourth grade, I won the spelling bee for my entire school and went to the district championships. I practiced every night, memorized all the words on the list, and felt confident that I had a shot at winning; I got nervous on stage and misspelled one of the words even though I knew the proper spelling.
• I’m fascinated by names and their meanings; Melissa means honey bee.
• There’s nothing like the gentle drum of water hitting against the window pane; I love the rain.
• This is not only a grammar post, it’s also a tag from by Rudy Amid in which I’m asked to write seven weird facts about myself; the seventh is that I’m using my blog to multitask and be a good sport about memes.

In many cases, semicolon use is appropriate or grammatically correct, however, when a period will do the trick, go with two separate sentences. In other words, if you can choose between separating clauses by a semicolon or writing two separate sentences (using a period), write two separate sentences. This makes text easier to read.

How often do you use semicolons? Ever? Do you think it’s best that this punctuation mark is used sparingly, or should we all aim for increased semicolon use — start a new fad, maybe? Share your thoughts on how to use a semicolon in the comments.

Oh, and I tag anyone who feels like sharing seven weird facts about themselves. Post them on your blog, and then come back and leave a comment here!

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Why Grammar and Dialog Don’t Always Mix

Grammar is important, but it’s not everything. Misspellings, typos, and ill-placed punctuation are like road bumps, each one jarring the reader and interrupting the flow of a piece. The exact opposite is often true for dialog. Too much proper grammar will come off sounding forced, even inhuman.

The reason for this is simple: Dialog represents speech and speech is rarely grammatically correct. We don’t talk the way we write.

When we talk, our words are gobbled up by the air. They may be caught and remembered by some listener, but chances are, they’ll float away and be forgotten. What we write is recorded and our words can be reviewed again and again. If you’re a writer, this matters. It matters a lot. The bottom line is that we take far greater care with what we put into writing than what we let slip out of our mouths. When composing dialog, it’s critical to keep this difference between speaking and writing in mind.

Have you ever been watching a movie, and suddenly one of the characters utters something that just sounds all wrong? You think to yourself, now that isn’t something a character like that would say. Or maybe you think, who talks like that? This is poor dialog and it may have nothing to do with grammar; it could just be feeble writing or editing.

“You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”

This line, from 1927’s The Jazz Singer became one of the most famous movie quotes of all time. One sentence, in total violation of English grammar, and it has been embraced and repeated by millions since. Can you imagine if the writer had chosen to apply the rules of language to dialog? “You haven’t heard anything yet.” Sorry, it just doesn’t have the same impact. That line would have been lost in obscurity for all time.

Mother may I?

I do not want to a see a small child in a film saying “Mother, Father, May we go Wallyworld for vacation this year?” Nobody talks like that, especially middle class suburban brats. “May I” might have a place in a film or novel set in the eighteenth century, or some upper class boarding school where the kids learn grammar from a wooden ruler being smacked across their behinds, but I’d expect “Can we go to Wallyworld?” or even “Let’s go to Wallyworld!” “May we…” comes off as fake, odd, and just plain wrong. Even though it’s technically right.

Get comfortable. Get real. Get real comfortable.

Dialog has numerous functions, and one of these is establishing character. If a character doesn’t come across as genuine, the whole story will suffer. The reader or the moviegoer will disconnect and even the most clever plot ever conceived won’t save the story. One of the prime ways we display our characters’ personalities is through dialog. The dialog has to resonate with truth; it has to be real. Like speech, dialog should be natural, comfortable, and believable.

The only way to achieve this is to write dialog in a manner that reflects how people actually speak. This often means breaking all those grammar rules. Toss out the verbs, use “like” a lot, and embrace slang. Have fun with it!

But don’t get carried away

You still have to be careful. When writing dialog, you get to shelf the rules, but you don’t get to throw them away. Dialog is not a license to ignore grammar. Here are just a few examples of how grammar should remain present in dialog:

• Don’t change all your gerunds to -in’ (i.e. talking to talkin’).
• Don’t assume just because your illiterate character doesn’t know the difference between your and you’re that you don’t need to know the difference either. You still need to spell correctly.
• Be careful with dialects! This is a study all by itself, and a very tricky process to master. Avoid it unless you are positive you have it down pat, and that it won’t have a negative impact on the flow

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Affect vs. Effect: Affected by the effects of your actions.

I see it all the time: affect and effect mixed up as if they were completely interchangeable. But they’re not. They don’t even belong to the same parts of speech! If you’ve ever been typing along and come to one of these words, and scrunched up your eyebrows wondering whether to spell it with an a or an e, then this grammar lesson is for you!

To Affect

Affect is a verb. It is something that happens. You are affected or you affect. This word is never preceded by an article such as an or the because it’s not a thing, it’s an action. When writing, or speaking for that matter, and unsure of the spelling, ask yourself if the word is being used as an action. If it is, then go with affect.

a = action
a = affect

An Effect

Effect is a noun, and that is a thing. It’s not something you do, it’s something you have, or give, or something that just is. We hear this word most commonly in reference to fancy film making — you know — special effects. “The special effects in that movie were groundbreaking!” Note the use of the article, the, as in the effect. See that? Easy!

the = article
effect = noun

Also note that if used with an adjective or noun phrase, it’s effect (with an e):

• After effect
• Special effect
• Greenhouse effect
• Sound effect
• Effects of alcohol
• In effect…
• Adverse effects
• Positive/negative effects
• Cause and effect
• Side effects

That’s all for today! Do you have any word mix ups that you need clarified? Or are there any nasty homophones out there that you just can’t seem to remember? Leave a comment and I’ll try to come up with a clever mnemonic device! If you’re too shy to leave a comment, go ahead and use the contact form!

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Latin Lessons: i.e. and e.g.

Often we come across the abbreviations i.e. and e.g., but what do they mean, and what is the difference between them?

These two terms originate in the Latin language and are just two of the many Latin phrases that have survived into modern language.

That is

Iillud est or il est means that is. It can also mean in other words. When abbreviated, it is always written with periods between and after the letters: i.e., and it should always be followed by a comma, and then the remainder of the sentence. It often acts as a conjunction, linking two separate phrases or ideas together. It is interesting to note that the phrase il est is still fully alive in the French language, meaning he is or it is.

Example:

I am writing, i.e., I am putting my thoughts into words on paper.

For Example

Exempli gratia means for the sake of example, but we often construe it to mean simply for example. As with i.e., it is always written with periods between and after the letters when it is abbreviated. It is usually followed by a comma, but there may be exceptions based on context.

Example:

There are many Latin words and phrases which still exist in modern languages, e.g., carpe diem, which means seize the day.

Avoid a Mix up

Abbreviated or not, these terms are not interchangeable. They simply do not mean the same thing. Still, they are often used in ways that are confusing, and since they present similarly, they are easy to mix up. How to remember the difference?

These two abbreviations share the letter e. So, we must use the other letters, the i and the g, respectively, to remember which is which. The trick is to just remember one of them, and the easiest of the two is i.e., or that is.

If you can associate the i in i.e. with the word is, you’ll be fine, because e.g. doesn’t have the letter i, and neither does the phrase for example.

i.e. = that is

e.g. = for example

Can you think of any more ways to easily remember these two phrases? What Latin terms do you like, or struggle with?

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Spelling Brief: which/witch and whether/weather

Last week, Kris of no known web site commented:

I have trouble with witch/which (and even so, I am not sure I have those right) and weather/wheather [sic]. any good ideas on how to keep them straight???

Well, Kris, I do have an answer for you, and some tips to help you remember how to toggle comfortably between these two pairs of homophones.

First, We Spell

All too appropriate, since we are discussing witches. The first step is to memorize the correct spelling of these four words, or two pairs of words, whichever term you prefer:

which
witch

whether
weather

Which witch?

Which and witch. These two words sound exactly alike but they are totally different. In short, one of these is a person who casts spells. The other is not a person at all; in fact it is merely a pronoun. How to remember?

• Who, what, and where are also pronouns that start with the letters wh — just like the word which as in which pronoun do you like best?
• A person may itch but a pronoun may not, and like the word itch, the witch that is a person has a t in its spelling.
• If you can memorize the phrase which witch itches?, it may help you to remember since each witch will belie its meaning in context. The itch doesn’t hurt either, considering the previous tip.

Tell Me Whether the Weather is Right or Wrong

Whether and weather are not nearly as fun to play with as witches and whiches. However, we can note that one is a noun, and deals with sunshine and storms. It may not be 100% tangible but we can certainly feel the weather on our skin when we step outside. The other is a conjunction, close relative of the famous and, or, but, and yet, and it’s often used to determine something: tell me whether or not you’ve finished this blog post. Unfortunately, I have only one tip, but it’s a good one.

• The only difference in spelling between these two words is that after the w, one has the letters he and the other has the letters ea. As I’m sure you realize, he is an actual word (ea is not, in case you were wondering). If you can remember the phrase, Whether he writes you can easily recall that the whether which is a conjunction has he within its spelling. Say it over and over: whether he, whether he, whether he. Feel free to make up your own phrase or sentence using the words whether and he. I found that sentences using the word whether are rather long. As is this tip!

Got any tips you’d like to add to help our friend Kris recall her homophones? Have a grammar question of your own? Leave a comment!

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

« Previous Page — Next Page »