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Grammar SOS > Semi-colons
Semi-colons are not used frequently in journalism, so tread carefully with them. Beginning journalists often overuse them. As readers, they trip us up. We’d rather see periods and shorter sentences. However, if you feel compelled, here’s how to use them:
- Semi-colons have two uses. They relate independent clauses whose meaning is similar. (But remember, unless you have a special reason to use a semicolon this way, use a period.)
- By nature, reporters are skeptics; many are cynics.
- He suggested that she spend her allowance on the new series at the opera, "Operas of the Present"; plays by Shaw, Ibsen and Aristophanes; and novels by Tolstoy, Woolf and Morrison.
The second use is as a separator to create clarity in the series (when commas aren’t enough, or you have commas as separators of a unit already):
"However"
The word "however" often accompanies a badly used semi-colon. Again, using two sentences is preferable to a long messy one that contains a semi-colon and the word "however." Here's a correct usage:
- We were looking for a lawn mower that was on sale; however, we settled for one that was 40 percent off.
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