Semicolons

Making connections is important, right? We like to connect to other people—family,

friends, classmates, etc.
Making connections in sentences is also important so that we can communicate our
thoughts in a way that others can understand. Punctuation helps us to do that.
Semicolons
We've already learned how to connect two simple sentences with a comma and a
coordinating conjunction. Remember FANBOYS? (For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.)
Example: My sister bought me a new book for my birthday, and I plan to start it
tonight.
Notice that on each side of the comma and coordinating conjunction, we have a
complete sentence.
Semicolons can connect two simple sentences (independent clauses) without
a coordinating conjunction. Think of the semicolon as a strong comma. It doesn't
need anything to help it.

• We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy
of life is when men are afraid of the light.
-Plato
Notice in this sentence that everything coming before the semicolon can be its own
sentence: We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark.
We can also make the part after the semicolon its own sentence: The real tragedy
of life is when men are afraid of the light.
The sentences are connected by only a semicolon.
Semicolons can also be used with transitional words to join two simple sentences
(independent clauses).
Some commonly used transitional words are however, for example, therefore,
nevertheless, consequently, thus, then, etc.

• The field is muddy from the rain; however, Curt is still excited about the
soccer game tonight.
Notice that the semicolon comes before the transitional word (however). Think of
transitional words as weaker than semicolons or coordinating conjunctions since you
need a semicolon in front of the transitional word.
That's why it's very important to memorize the coordinating conjunctions
(FANBOYS) and be familiar with transitional words.
Also, notice that there's a comma after however. Read the sentence aloud. Do you
notice that you pause slightly after you say however? If there is a natural pause after
the transitional word, add a comma. If not, you don't need the comma.

One More!
You may also use semicolons between items in a list. Wait, what? Don't commas
go between items in a list? Yes! Sometimes, though, there are already commas
within the items in the list. To clearly communicate, we use semicolons to separate
the items.
Example: Pat has lived in Dubuque, Iowa; Madison, Wisconsin; and Roanoke,
Virginia.
Notice that I'm separating cities, but since I already need a comma between each
city and state, I use a semicolon to separate each item in the list of places Pat has
lived.

Colons, Dashes, and Parentheses

For Friday's dinner, we need the following: pasta, bread, and salad.
Notice that the sentence was NOT worded this way: For Friday's dinner, we need:
pasta, bread, and salad.
Colons can't come after verbs or after prepositions. In the example above, a colon
cannot follow the verb "need."
You use a colon after the words "the following" or "as follows" or after a complete
sentence.

• Please remember to bring donations with you to our youth fundraiser: baked
goods, canned goods, and craft supplies.

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The colon comes right before a list, and since fundraiser is not a preposition or a
verb, the colon placement is correct. The part that precedes the colon is a complete
sentence; it can stand alone. What follows the colon further clarifies or explains the
complete sentence.
To summarize:
Include a colon after "the following" or "as follows".
Craft-time for toddlers included the following: play-doh, crayons, and stickers.
Include a colon after a complete sentence if what follows clarifies or develops the
sentence further.
The toddlers made a mess with the materials they were given during craft time:
glitter, glue sticks, and finger paints.
DO NOT include a colon after a preposition or verb ("with" is a preposition).
The toddlers did crafts with crayons, markers, and glue sticks.

More on Colons
We also use colons when we refer to particular verses of Scripture.
• The first verse I memorized was John 3:16.
And, of course, we use colons to write times.
• The bus is leaving the school at 9:30 A.M.
We also use a colon after the greeting in a business letter.
• Dear Sir: Dear Mr. Birkoff:

Dashes
Dashes can be used as the opposite of colons!
Example 1: These are his favorite artists: Monet, Renoir, and Caillebotte.
Example 2: Monet, Renoir, and Caillebotte—these are his favorite artists.
Notice that when we used the dash, the first part of the sentence was detailed—
giving the particular names of his favorite artists.
Notice that to type the dash, you type 2 hyphens in a row. Look for the key to the
right of the zero.
• At the end of the game—our best game yet! —we celebrated by going out for
pizza.

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Dashes can be used in a similar way to how parentheses are used.
We can put dashes around extra info in the sentence, but when we use dashes, we
are emphasizing that info while parentheses minimize the info.
In the above sentence, we use dashes around our best game yet! because we want
to emphasize that the game was our best. We can also take out the info within the
dashes, and the sentence will still make sense.
We can also use dashes in creative writing to show a break in speech or an
unfinished thought.
• I--I'm--not sure where she is.
• When you go to the store, would you get--oh, never mind.
(This usage is more informal and would be appropriate in creative writing but not in
essays or research papers.)

Parentheses
Have you ever wanted to add some extra info to a sentence--perhaps to explain a
bit--without drawing too much attention to the extra info? Then you need
parentheses!
- Maggie May a Yorkshire terrier was my first dog.
In the example above, which words are extra info and are not necessary for the
sentence to make sense? Make a guess and read the sentence without those
words. Is the sentence still complete?
If you said "a Yorkshire terrier," you're right!
If we don't want to emphasize that Maggie May was a Yorkshire terrier, we put that
info in parentheses and check to make sure the sentence still makes sense without
that part: Maggie May was my first dog.
Corrected: Maggie May (a Yorkshire terrier) was my first dog.