What happened to the humble semicolon? Why is it so neglected? It has two essential uses in writing, but perhaps the sixteen-second attention span we learned watching Sesame Street is obsoleting one of them—long sentences.
In Compound Sentences*
Let’s look at the writing of a master of semicolons, Jules Verne, in a translation I have of his book, Around the World in 80 Days, originally published in 1873.
“Certainly an Englishman, it was more doubtful whether Philias Fogg was a Londoner. He was never seen on ‘Change, nor at the bank, nor in the counting-rooms of the “City”; no ships ever came into London docks of which he was the owner; he had no public employment; he had never been entered at any of the Inns of Court, either at the Temple, or Lincoln’s Inn, or Gray’s Inn; nor had his voice ever resounded in the Court of Chancery, or in the Exchequer, or the Queen’s Bench, or the Ecclesiastical Courts.”
There are five beautiful sentences, all describing the business, or lack thereof, of Philias Fogg, and all separated by semicolons. He could have punctuated them as five different sentences, but semicolons signal stronger connections than periods do.
Comma Plus Conjunction
Since that time, use of the semicolon has been a little phased out and often replaced by the combination of a comma plus a conjunction, but only the coordinating conjunctions can be used that way: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. The first letters spell out the mnemonic FANBOYS.
Here is a compound sentence from the book, Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine:
“Hattie didn’t know about Lucinda and the curse, but she understood I always had to follow her orders.”
Transitional Conjunctions
What happens when we want to put two sentences together with a different conjunction? Can we still use a comma?
No, absolutely not.
When words such as however, therefore, moreover, nevertheless, consequently, or for example separate two independent clauses, place a semicolon before the transition and a comma after.
I had planned to practice my swimming; however, the only pool was closed.
In Complex Lists
Sometimes we write lists that can become confusing if each item contains more than one word. Semicolons create the stronger divider we need:
The meeting was attended by Mrs. Maybeline Devine Jones, Chairwoman; Mrs. Margaret Carter, Recipe Book Editor; Mrs. Agnes May Anthony, Advertising Director; Mrs. Athena Jean Stephanopoulos, Test Baker; and Miss Josephine Ann Falstaff, Graphic Designer.
The Decline of the Semicolon
The use of the semicolon flourished during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and has been declining ever since. Just since the year 2000, the use of the semicolon in published works has further declined by nearly 50%. There are speculations as to the reasons:
• Many people are uncertain of the rules of how to use a semicolon, so use an em dash or a period instead.
• People tend to prefer the use of shorter sentences for business, online, and journalistic writing.
• Speed and brevity are now the name of the game; long sentences are eschewed.
The Uniquely Useful Semicolon
Look at this from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
Period: “Gatsby believed in the dream. He could never let it go.”
Semicolon: “Gatsby believed in the dream; he could never let it go.”
The semicolon adds meaning; it expresses a relationship between the ideas that a period cannot convey, and a comma cannot legally depict.
Skilled writers still value the uniquely useful semicolon.
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*A compound sentence is two or more complete sentences on the same topic, joined together.
I love your grammar lessons, Lynn! You are so clear and specific! You are also interesting to read at the same time! Thanks for sharing, especially the very long connected paragraph by Jules Verne!