The Two Rules for Semicolons

According to a study reported in The Guardian, ​semicolon usage has plummeted by half in just two decades​. Babbel, the language learning software advertised approximately 47 million times an hour on both NPR and most podcasts I listen to, commissioned the study (the article doesn't say why — any guesses?) and were so stunned by the results that the company asked the author of The Perfect (sic) English Grammar Workbook to administer a brief, multiple choice quiz on semicolons to half a million students who should know the correct answers.

More than half failed.

This news rocks me like a hurricane, but if I'm being honest (which I always am) it does not actually surprise me. Over time, I've pointed my judgy little blame-pointing finger in a number of directions to account for the disintegrating knowledge about many of the most basic rules of the language native speakers learn/read/write/speak natively. I won't argue any of these here.

I love a good semicolon, well placed. If I were the type of person to get tattooed with my favorite punctuation marks, I'd consider the semicolon. I'd wear it on a t-shirt for sure if I had such a t-shirt. It's a meaningful pause, a mark of connection, a clarifier. It's...useful.

Best of all, unlike their friends the commas, which have many more rules and exceptions-to-the-rules, the humble semicolon is only ever appropriate in two cases. Two!

Number one: it joins two complete sentences into one sentence, best for when the ideas are more intertwined than a period might suggest.

Example: Today's smartphone cameras take exceptionally clear and crisp photos; photos taken with the original camera-enabled models are blurry and washed out.

(Now isn't that better than the choppy-but-still-correct: Today's smartphone cameras take exceptionally clear and crisp photos. Photos taken with the original camera-enabled models are blurry and washed out.)

Number two: it separates items in series when those items already contain commas.

Example: I have visited Tokyo, Japan; Madrid, Spain; and Brisbane, Australia.

Another example: My favorite snacks are buttered, salted popcorn; bitter, slightly sweet licorice; and cookies.

Without the semicolons, it would look like I don't know the difference between city and country. Or that maybe I like bitter cookies?

End of list!

Want to practice on writing that’s not your own? Here are some fun and practical ideas to sharpen your intuition regarding semicolons to enhance your writing's beauty and performance.

• Take a passage from the wild and do a find/replace to eliminate all semicolons and replace them with periods. Make decisions on where a semicolon should go and explain your reasoning to yourself. This method helps you to see sentence relationships.

• This is the reverse strategy of the above: look for sentences with semicolons and rewrite them twice, once as two separate sentences, and once as a single sentence with a coordinating conjunction. This method gets at rhythm.

• With either method, orient your thinking so you consider the sentences according to their relationship status: are they BFFs (closely related ideas that deserve a semicolon), acquaintances (related but fine as separate sentences), or total strangers who may find each other a little creepy (unrelated and shouldn't be joined)?

OK, great. But…how do you apply this to your own writing?

Language games are fun for weirdo grammar nerds like me, but you are working on your own writing and need help with the how-to. I got you!

• Either write or use an existing internal monologue passage where a character is processing complex emotions or making decisions. These naturally lend themselves to semicolons because thoughts often flow in related but distinct waves: "He gripped the steering wheel; his knuckles turned white. The engine idled patiently, unaware of the choice before him; going home meant forgiveness, but it also meant facing the consequences."

• Set the scene with a layer of descriptive details that build atmosphere: "Rain tapped against the broken windowpanes; somewhere in the attic, something scurried. The wallpaper curled like old leaves; the air was thick with the scent of mildew and long-buried secrets. Every object in the room held memories; not all of them were welcome."

• Take a paragraph or longer passage from their own work that feels choppy. Create two new versions, one with semicolons added and one with semicolons removed, and compare to your original. What do you notice about rhythm? "She opened the door; the room was silent. Dust hung in the air; a photo on the mantle caught her eye. It was of them, before the accident; her throat tightened. She looked away."

• As someone who already writes long, complex sentences, I naturally use this one myself. Purposely create complex lists where items already contain commas to see what shades of tone or meaning or straight information might be conveyed: "The week unraveled with cruel precision: a tense meeting with her manager, who questioned every decision she’d made; an unexpected call from her brother, who had more bad news than comfort; and a lonely Saturday night, spent revisiting old messages she should’ve deleted months ago."

More than just following grammar rules, taking the time to understand what this humble little fellow can do for voice and pacing and a whole lotta other cool stuff besides will level up your writing far beyond what you might at first imagine. Once you're an expert, maybe we could get together to start a semicolon preservation society. ​There's one for the Oxford comma​; why not one for the semicolon?

Are you semicolon usage-smarter than a London Student Network pupil? ​Take the quiz yourself at the same link​.

I want more tips!