The semicolon...
It's a bit of a mystery sometimes, so many people avoid using it.
But semicolons are pretty helpful... when you know how to use them.
So, stick around, and let's take a look at the handsome semicolon.
[♪]
[snap]
[♫]
Hi, welcome to Snap Language.
I'm Marc Franco. and I use semicolons.
Essentially, there are three uses for a semicolon:
(1) To join two closely related clauses,
(2) to set off the items in a complex list, and (3) in elliptical constructions.
"Ashley had worked hard.
"She decided to go to bed early."
These are separate sentences, but the ideas they express are closely related.
"Ashley had worked hard, so..."
We can show this close relationship with just a semicolon... right here.
See? We can use a comma and "so" or,
because the relationship is very clear, just the semicolon.
"I did not do anything this weekend.
I just needed the rest."
This is fine as two sentences but,
because the relationship between these ideas is clear,
we can use a semicolon to join them.
We end up with one longer, more complex sentence:
"I did not do anything this weekend; I just needed the rest."
"Professor Ecks is very well educated.
"He has a master's degree and a Ph.D. in history.
"He is currently working on a Ph.D. in sociology."
The period at the end of each sentence
kind of breaks the flow of these related ideas...
but we can improve it like this:
"Professor Ecks is very well educated; "he has a master's degree and
a Ph.D. in history.
(period)
"He is currently working on..." and so forth.
The semicolon here, keeps *these* ideas together (how much education he has).
Then, the next sentence adds extra information to that.
You can see that a well placed semicolon is useful;
it keeps related ideas together as a chunk.
Conjunctive adverbs are words or expressions such as "however,"
"nevertheless," "in addition," "otherwise," "meanwhile," and so forth.
They are naturally very useful to show just how two ideas are related
so, of course, a semicolon is perfect to use with them.
You can write
"John was having money troubles; he still kept spending a lot of money."
To show just how these ideas are related, you can use
a semicolon with a conjunctive adverb to join them:
"John was having money troubles; nonetheless, he still kept spending
a lot of money."
... or "however," or "nevertheless..."
"After they bought their house, they had three more children;
they had to move to a bigger home."
This is clear enough, but you can connect these ideas
even more clearly in
"... they had three more children; as a result, they had to move..." and so on.
"Having a car can make your life easier; on the other hand, it can be expensive
to maintain it."
"We have completed this portion of the video; therefore, it is time for a transition."
Remember how you can use semicolons to keep together chunks of ideas?
So, you can use a semicolon to set off items in a complex list
that already has commas in it.
What?!... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well, it's time for an example...
"I traveled a lot this month.
I had business meetings in
Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Chicago,
Illinois, Brussels,
the capital of Belgium, Paris,
the City of... [huffing]
Whoa!
This is a mess!
In this list, commas are being used
not only to separate the items from each other
but also to add extra information about some of the items.
Hm...
If we could just set them off from each other...
Hey!
Use semicolons!
Remember, semicolons can be used to keep related ideas together, so...
I had business meetings in Cambridge, Massachusetts;
...(that's one item)...
Chicago, Illinois; (that's another item)
Brussels, the capital of Belgium;
Paris, the City of Lights;
New York;
Toronto, Canada;
and São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil."
In an elliptical construction, you leave something out because it is understood.
"Some people brought food to the party.
"Other people brought drinks to the party."
You can combine these sentences leaving out the portions that are repeated.
"Some people brought food to the party; others, drinks.
"At 18 months, a child knows about 50 words.
"By age 3, a child knows as many as 1,100 words."
"At 18 months, a child knows about 50 words; by age 3, as many as 1,100."
Two final notes:
First, don't get carried away and start using semicolons *everywhere.*
The language offers you a number of options to create variety in your writing,
so try different things.
Also, pay attention when you read.
Don't ignore semicolons; they convey ideas just the way
the writer intended.
If this video was helpful, please give it a "like"
and subscribe to Snap Language on YouTube.
Push the notification "thingy..."
you know, those things we do to stay engaged with a channel.
And thanks for stopping by and watching this video.
... and start using semicolons,
don't be afraid...
Bye!