Slide 1: Our Fri end, the Semicolon © Capital Community College
Slide 2: Our Fri end, the Semicolon Let s begin with a simple sentence: Grandma stays up too late. © Capital Community College
Slide 3: Our Fri end, the Semicolon Now let s expand on that a bit: Grandma stays up too late. She s afraid she s going to miss something. This is OK. Two independent ideas, separated by a period. © Capital Community College
Slide 4: Our Fri end, the Semicolon What if we try to combine the two ideas? Grandma stays up too late, she s afraid she s going to miss something. Something’s wrong. We connected two independent clauses with only a comma. The dreaded COMMA SPLICE! © Capital Community College
Slide 5: Our Fri end, the Semicolon We could insert a coordinating conjunction: Grandma is afraid she ll miss something, so she stays up too late. This is better! Note the comma that accompanies the coordinating conjunction. © Capital Community College
Slide 6: Our Fri end, the Semicolon We could also try subordinating one of these ideas: Grandma stays up too late because she s afraid she s going to miss something. Notice that the comma disappeared. One idea (the second one) now depends on the other; it has become a dependent clause. © Capital Community College
Slide 7: Our Fri end, the Semicolon But let s try something else. © Capital Community College
Slide 8: Our Fri end, the Semicolon Let s try using a semicolon in this sentence. Grandma stays up too late; she s afraid she s going to miss something. Notice there is no conjunction used with this semicolon either subordinating or coordinating. Just the semicolon, all by itself. © Capital Community College
Slide 9: Our Fri end, the Semicolon Sometimes semicolons are accompanied by conjunctive adverbs words such as however, moreover, therefore, nevertheless, consequently, as a result. Grandma is afraid she s going to miss something; as a result, she stays up too late. © Capital Community College
Slide 10: Our Fri end, the Semicolon Notice the pattern: ; as a result, semicolon + conjunctive adverb + comma This is a typical construction with semicolons. © Capital Community College
Slide 11: Our Fri end, the Semicolon There is one other use of the semicolon: to help us sort out monster lists, like this one: lists The committee included Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics, from Marlborough, Connecticut, Virginia Villa, Professor of English, from Hartford, Connecticut, Paul Creech, Director of Rad-Tech, from Essex, Connecticut, and Joan Leach, Professor of Nursing, from Farmington, Connecticut. © Capital Community College
Slide 12: Our Fri end, the Semicolon Be careful where you insert semicolons in this sentence. The committee included Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics, from Marlborough, Connecticut; Virginia Villa, Professor of English, from Hartford, Connecticut ; Paul Creech, Director of Rad-Tech, from Essex, Connecticut ; and Joan Leach, Professor of Nursing, from Farmington, Connecticut. © Capital Community College
Slide 13: Our Fri end, the Semicolon Now you know everything you ll ever need to know about using semicolons! © Capital Community College
Slide 14: This PowerPoint presentation was created by Charles Darling, PhD Professor of English and Webmaster Capital Community College Hartford, Connecticut copyright November 1999 © Capital Community College