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Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (Paperback) by Lynne Truss
This is the most popular punctuation book on the market--a bit British, but a fun read.
Using Semi-colons Correctly
by Terrie Lynn Bittner
The proper use of semi-colons will give your writing a professional look. They are not nearly as complicated as they often seem to students. What two punctuation marks are combined into the semi-colon? There is a
period over a comma. Periods are a stop sign; commas are a slow-down sign. A semicolon combines both of those. Look at the semi colon I used earlier in this paragraph. The two sentences are related to each other. However, both could be stand-alone sentences, so they are each considered an independent clause. You could easily write:
Periods are a stop sign.
Commas are a slow-down sign.
Both sentences are independent sentences that don’t absolutely need each other to survive, which is why they can't have a comma. If you used a comma between them, you would have a run-on sentence. The semi-colon is a speed limit sign. A comma tells the reader to hesitate for a fraction of a moment. A period says to stop completely, perhaps even taking a breath. But the semicolon is somewhere in the middle. It instructs the reader to slow down a bit longer so as to notice the connection between the two ideas.
Look at the sentence below. Could you replace the comma with a semicolon?
Alice ate oatmeal for breakfast, but Peter had sweet rolls.
At first glance, it might seem that you could, because you can correctly say:
Alice ate oatmeal for breakfast. Peter had sweet rolls.
However, we tucked a word in-between those two sentences. If the words but, and, or, nor, for, or yet are between the sentences, you can’t use the semicolon unless you remove the connector.
Wrong:
Alice ate oatmeal for breakfast; but Peter had sweet rolls.
Right:
Alice ate oatmeal for breakfast; Peter had sweet rolls.
Right:
Alice and Peter had cereal for breakfast; the dragon then had Alice and Peter for breakfast.
Some connecting words do allow for semicolon. You can put a semicolon into sentences containing certain connectors, such as “for example” or otherwise. These types of words are usually followed by a comma.
Wrong:
I did not win fame and fortune for my invention, however, my mother thought my Baby Muzzle was a clever idea.
Right:
I did not win fame and fortune for my invention; however, my mother thought my Baby Muzzle was a clever idea.
Semicolons should not be the most common punctuation in your article. Use them sparingly, but correctly.