Comma and Semi-colon

[shravi7838]

Hi All....

I read about the usage of colons and semi-colons... Can somebody tell me the usage of semi-colons and commas.... I feel they're very confusing!!!

Thanks in advance!
Cheers!

[susabelle]

Well, they can sometimes be used interchangeably and that is probably what is confusing!

Semicolons are a "hard comma" in usage; this means you can put together two sentences WITHOUT a joining word (and, but, or). See? I just used one. I could have written the two sentences separately, but I chose to put the two sentences together with a semi-colon. This works when you are finishing a thought or the sentences are closely related, but you don't want to create a comma and joining word to make it work.

Commas can note clauses or descriptions, but also can be used to put two sentences together. And I just did it in the previous sentence. I put two sentences together with a comma and a joining word (in this case, "but"). If I were to split that into to sentences, both would make sense all alone (and without the "but").

I hope that made some sense.

[Maeve]

Commas can note clauses or descriptions, but also can be used to put two sentences together. And I just did it in the previous sentence. I put two sentences together with a comma and a joining word (in this case, "but"). If I were to split that into to sentences, both would make sense all alone (and without the "but").

Susabelle,
I feel the need to clarify something in this part of your explanation:
"I put two sentences together with a comma and a joining word."

This could lead to confusion by suggesting that two sentences can be joined by a comma. Once a "joining word" enters the picture, you no longer have two sentences.

What you did was join two clauses. Either clause could stand alone as a simple sentence, but in your example, you have a compound sentence.

A common punctuation fault is the comma splice, an error that results when a writer does try to join two sentences with a comma:

The frightened man fled, he ran blindly down the rocky path.

[Silke]

I hate semi-colons. I don't think I ever use them.
I know I should, but... I never know where the heck to put them.

Sorry guys, but even with the explanations above I still go "Huh?"

[aravah]

The semicolon (;) has only one major use. It is used to join two complete sentences into a single written sentence when all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The two sentences are felt to be too closely related to be separated by a full stop (http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node04.html);
(2) There is no connecting word which would require a comma (http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node09.html), such as and or but;
(3) The special conditions requiring a colon (http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node16.html) are absent.

Here is a famous example: It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

A semicolon can always, in principle, be replaced either by a full stop (http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node04.html) (yielding two separate sentences) or by the word and (possibly preceded by a joining comma (http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node11.html)). Thus Dickens might have written:

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. or
It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.

The use of the semicolon suggests that the writer sees the two smaller sentences as being more closely related than the average two consecutive sentences; preferring the semicolon to and often gives a more vivid sense of the relation between the two. But observe carefully: the semicolon must be both preceded by a complete sentence and followed by a complete sentence.

From: Guide to Punctuation (http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node17.html#SECTION00052000000000000000)

Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college. Kurt Vonnegut (http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Kurt_Vonnegut/), A Man without a Country, US novelist (1922 - 2007)

[Maeve]

When I taught English in a private tutorial school in London, the headmistress told me not to bother trying to teach the use of the semi-colon at all. It would be time-consuming and most of the children wouldn't understand it anyway. Her stance was that if the girls mastered the use of the other punctuation marks they could write anything they needed to write without ever needing to resort to semi-colons.