Endangered Punctuation: The Semicolon

Observe, if you will, this most magnificent of punctuation marks in its natural habitat: tending to its young, nestled in-between two independent clauses, its offspring growing to maturity and venturing into the big wide world of punctuation, separating items in complex lists and generally having a glorious time, unaware of the threat to the future of their species.

Sadly, as the English language moves into the 21st century, the semicolon is rapidly becoming an endangered species. It survives in small pockets of grammar enthusiasm, as tenuous as the rapidly disappearing rainforests, and the zoos of the punctuation world - universities (thanks to their seeming ability to operate outside time).

Please, take a moment to learn the rules of semicolon use and begin using them in daily life (if you want to pronounce them, the correct way is 'fgun'). The semicolon is a relatively simple punctuation mark to master; it can be used in two distinct ways:

Separating Items in a Complex List: "Sire, I present to you McDiarmud Daffyd, King of the Eastern Kingdoms; Elaine Rodriguez, High Valet to the Prince of Underwood; Malawi Yusuf, Head of the Three Tower Collective and Esker Taskalot, Chief Medical Officer of the Boreal Empire." The semicolon here presents a definite break between each individual's name and title; without the semicolon it would be a total mess of names and titles and, as the sentence progressed, it would be much more difficult to tell which name went with which title.

Separating Closely-Related Independent Clauses: The semicolon can also prove as a link between two closely-related sentences which could stand alone, but make more sense when linked - it is perhaps easiest to think of it as somewhere between a comma and a full stop. For example: "When the carriage pulled away I could still hear her sobbing; as the vehicle receded into the darkness, a white handkerchief was tossed from the window, landing softly on the grass verge." These sentences are thematically linked to the extent that a full stop here "…sobbing. As…" seems too final; better to have the run-on allowed by a semicolon.

Without our help, the majestic semicolon could die out within the next decade. Help us get it off the endangered punctuation list by learning how to use it and including it in your sentences (where appropriate of course).