English Grammer.... when can you use this ;?

Question

English Grammer.... when can you use this ;?

Answer 1

Every time you speak or write in English.  If you read the posts on this site, you will see that most public school students have a deplorable lack of knowledge in this subject.

Oh sorry, I didn't notice the semicolon.  I thought you were asking when you could use English Grammar!

There are a couple of uses, one of the most common is to separate two independent clauses.

Answer 2

Hi

Don't you think before you learn the meaning of a semicolon it would make more sense to learn how to spell 'Grammar'

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Answer 3

In English, the semicolon (;) has two purposes:

binding two sentences more closely than if separated by a full-stop period. It replaces conjunctions, such as and or but. Writers consider this appropriate when indicating a close relationship between two sentences, a continuation of meaning from the one to the next; the connection might break with an abrupt period.

as a divider stronger than a comma, to clarify meaning in a sentence where commas are used for other purposes, e.g. to separate items of a list when the items contain commas.

There are several cases where semicolons may be used:

Use a semicolon between closely-related independent clauses not conjoined with a co-ordinating conjunction: "I went to the swimming pool; I was told it was closed for scheduled maintenance."

Use a semicolon between independent clauses linked with a transitional phrase or a conjunctive adverb: "I like to eat cows; however, they don't like to be eaten by me."

Use a semicolon between items in a series containing internal punctuation: "There are several Waffle Houses in Atlanta, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Gainesville, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama."

A semicolon can be used to separate independent clauses conjoined with coordinating conjunctions, when the clauses have internal commas that might be misread: "After the game, I won a red and blue beanie baby, four hundred thousand edible ingots, and a certificate of excellence; but when the storm came, I lost it all in a torrent of sleet, snow, and profanity."

Semicolons are followed by a lower case letter, unless that letter begins a proper noun. In documents, semicolons have no spaces before, but one or two spaces after.

[edit] Examples

I am not alone; my wife came back to me.

I traveled to Cambridge, England; Tijuana, Mexico; and Paris, France.

Lisa scored 70 points; Marcia, 60; and Sam, 40.

(In the second sentence, and the second semicolon in the third sentence, the semicolons function as serial commas.)

Answer 4

The semi-colon can be used to divide items in a list when the items are more than one word long and commas might be confusing.

It is also used to join sentences that are connected, or follow on from each other in some way, eg My sister is a singer; she has a good voice. A full stop could be used here, but a semi-colon is better.