| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
| |
| SEMICOLON |
| |
| |
| This punctuation mark (;) has two important uses in written English. (1) It coordinates (separates yet connects evenhandedly) two independent clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction: I ran to the door; no one was there. Notice particularly its use when independent clauses are joined by conjunctive adverbs such as however and furthermore. These are not coordinating conjunctions, and therefore a comma is not enough punctuation; a semicolon does the job: We were there early; nonetheless, they had already left. With a coordinating conjunction such as and or but, a comma would serve: We arrived early, but they had already left. (2) The semicolon also serves to separate clauses or phrases in series constructions when these already contain commas (He had a tall, black horse; a wagon, which someone had given him after the battle; and a threadbare, tattered carpetbag) and elsewhere where there are already other commas. | 1 |
| Another point about the semicolon: the convention is that the semicolon always belongs outside the final quotation marks: He said, “I hit him”; he smiled wickedly. | 2 |
| |
| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
|
|
