ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Writing Notes
Using Semi-Colons to Improve
Your Writing
FORM ONE
Mr. Justice Agbodjan
Table of contents
Introducing the Semi-Colon (;)
01 What is a Semi-Colon?
How to Use the Semi-Colon
02 Different ways of using semi-
colons in writing.
Exercises
03 Test your understanding.
REF: WRITING TO 14, pages 16-17
Introducing the Semi-Colon (;)
REFER TO WRITING TO 14, PAGE 16
How to Use the Semi-colon (;)
1. Joining Two Sentences
Semicolons are used to join two sentences that are closely related. For
example: “I like music; I play the guitar, piano and drums.”
Sometimes, the semi-colon replaces conjunctions like ‘and’, ‘but’, and ‘so’, etc.
when they join two sentences together. The above example can be re-written with
a conjunction as “I like music, so I play the guitar, piano and drums”.
More examples:
• John finished all his homework; Kathleen did not finish hers. (,but)
• I have a big presentation tomorrow; I need to prepare my notes tonight. (,so)
• Martha has gone to the library; her sister has gone to play soccer. (,and/,but)
• I ordered a cheeseburger for lunch; life’s too short for counting calories. (,for)
• We saw a magnificent albatross; the sun was setting right behind it. (,and)
• I wanted to go for a run; the weather was too cold. (,but)
How to Use the Semi-Colon (;)
2. Separating lists of items
When a list is complex it contains long items that contain commas or other
punctuation marks. Semi-colons should be used to separate the items. This
avoids confusion and makes our writing clearer.
For example:
I have been taught by several brilliant teachers: Geography teacher, Sir
Robert; History teacher, Sir Baffour; and English teacher, Sir Justice.
The items in the list are:
Geography teacher, Sir Robert
History teacher, Sir Baffour
English teacher, Sir Justice.
Semi-colons help us group words into a listed items.
How to Use the Semi-Colon (;)
More examples:
• (Incorrect) I bought shiny, ripe apples, small, sweet, juicy grapes, and firm pears.
• (Correct) I bought shiny, ripe apples; small, sweet, juicy grapes; and firm
pears.
• (Incorrect) Our holiday itinerary in London includes taking a long, leisurely walk
along the canal, seeing the musicals The Lion King, The Book of Mormon, and
Wicked, and treating ourselves to a fancy meal at a restaurant.
• (Correct) Our holiday itinerary in London includes taking a long, leisurely
walk along the canal; seeing the musicals The Lion King, The Book of
Mormon, and Wicked; and treating ourselves to a fancy meal at a
restaurant.
Practice Example (add semicolons where appropriate):
• The spies would travel by land, in the cars of freight trains by sea, in the hidden
smuggling compartments of merchant vessels and by air, in the guise of
stewards and stewardesses.
How to Use the Semi-Colon (;)
3. Before Conjunctive Adverbs
Conjunctive adverbs (e.g., however, meanwhile, next, similarly, therefore,
moreover, consequently, nevertheless) are also used to join two related
sentences.
Use a semicolon before these words at the start of the second clause.
Examples:
• The rain was pouring outside; however, we decided to go for a walk.
• The weather app said it would rain today; however, no clouds are in the sky.
• Reports of the damage caused by the hurricane were greatly exaggerated;
nevertheless, I was relieved we evacuated when we did.
• Mona waited to meet her date on Eighth Street and First Avenue; meanwhile,
her date waited on First Street and Eighth Avenue.
• The students were advised not to walk alone at night; however, Cathy decided
walking wasn’t dangerous if it was early in the evening.
• I’m not all that fond of the colours of tiger lilies; moreover, they don’t smell very
good.
Exercise
Introduce one or more semi-colons in each of the following sentences:
1. He slept through his alarm luckily his first class was cancelled.
2. The rent is expensive moreover the house is quite too small.
3. We practiced every day after school and all Saturday however we lost the
game.
4. He's taking algebra, which he's good at biology, his least favourite subject and
drama, for fun.
5. You'll need to turn left on Cedar it's the third house on the right.
6. On the table were three piles: meat, chicken and fish rice, bread, and pasta
and spinach, broccoli, and kale.
7. We stayed in Baltimore, Maryland, Omaha, Nebraska, and Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
8. Martin had paid his dues therefore, we allowed him to vote in the election.
9. The score was tied the game went into overtime.
10. We didn't attend the play, besides, we had heard that all the good seats were
taken.
