World of English

Secrets of the Semicolon

The semicolon is certainly an interesting piece of punctuation.  It isn't a comma—in fact, a comma would cause a run-on sentence.  It isn't end punctuation—a semicolon must always be followed by an independent clause, and there always has to be end punctuation at the end of that clause for both clauses—before and after the semicolon—to be complete and correctly punctuated sentences.

The semicolon in type comes to us from a company in Venice, Italy and can actually be traced back to a particular printer and a passion.  Aldus Manutius the elder (1449-1515) was a Venetian printer when it was becoming “in vogue” to preserve and publish Greek text by committing them to type (rather than hand-copied documents).  Several Italian presses were making a name of themselves by publishing Greek classics, and Aldus concluded that Venice was the best place to begin his venture.  Therefore, he worked to establish a printing house, the Aldine Press, after moving to Venice.  He is credited with making books less bulky and more accessible to the common man, as well as providing better updated books through revised editions.  Not only that, but he is also credited with the invention of the semicolon.  He used semicolons in his typeset as a marker between antonyms and also as a way to separate “interdependent” clauses—two dependent clauses with some meaningful relationship that created a dependence of meaning while remaining grammatically independent.  You can see examples of his use of semicolons in the image of an early Aldine-published text below.

 

 

Aldine Press gained a wide repute and Aldus contributed greatly to the field of type, pioneering work at his time.  It is said that Gutenburg may have invented the printing press, but Aldine Press used it to revolutionize the world.

 

As mysterious as the history of the semicolon is for most people so is its correct use.

It is actually very simple.  A independent clause is a complete thought—stick a period or question mark or exclamation mark at the end of it, and it is a sentence.

Examples of independent clauses: 

I run. 

I threw the ball. 

 

A semicolons separates two independent clauses that are related to one another.

For example:

I'm glad I studied all week in preparation for the test; it was as difficult as I had expected.

I had not touched the flowers; I had not been in the office.

 

You could break this sentence up into two.  It would not be wrong to separate them with a period, but the semicolon usage is more informative—it lets the reader know the sentences are connected without having read them—the semicolon tells them beforehand, “This independent clause's meaningfulness is linked to the independent clause before it.”  The semicolon allows subtle nuances in meaning and connections.  For example, in the first sentence, the semicolon could be replaced with the word “because” and maintain its same meaning!

 

 

Punctuation Joke

An English professor wrote the words, "Woman without her man is nothing" on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly.

The men wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing."

The women wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing."

More on commas

More form the wonderful world of comma usage!!!  Okay, I am actually not that excited about commas, either--I might like grammar, but I am not some sort of freak.  Anyway, here is the additional information about commas I promised.  These guidelines will be helpful as you proof your own work or as you are preparing for a standardized exam.  The places where a comma is (and is not) needed are not hard to discern, and the rules are fairly straight forward.  For most people, mastering these basic guidelines will solve most punctuation problems in their writing.  Next time, though, we'll explore the mysterious world of colons and semicolons, because for most people, they are the mysterious pair of punctuation, the dots from the darkness, the sentence endings . . . of the unknown!

COMPOUND SENTENCE COMMAS

1. Skim your paper, looking for the seven coordinating conjunctions:

and nor but

so for yet

or

2. Stop at each of these words, and see whether there is an independent clause (a sentence) on each side of it.

3. If so, place a comma before the coordinating conjunction.

Example: She wanted to buy a new car, but she didn't have enough money to do so.

COMMA SPLICES

1. Skim your paper, stopping at every comma.

2. See whether you have an independent clause (sentence) on each side of the comma.

3. If so, change the sentence in one of the following ways:

1. • add a coordinating conjunction after the comma

2. • replace the comma with a semicolon

3. • replace the comma with a period, question mark, or exclamation point, and capitalize the first word of the second clause.

Comma splice: Americans speak too rapidly, this is a common complaint by foreign visitors.

Correct: Americans speak too rapidly; this is a common complaint by foreign visitors.

INTRODUCTORY COMMAS

1. For introductory commas after dependent clauses, try this strategy:

1. • Skim your paper, looking only at the first two or three words of each sentence.

2. • Stop if one of these words is a dependent marker such as because, when, if, etc.

3. • If necessary, place a comma before the first word of the independent clause.

Example: While I was working, the phone rang.

2. For other introductory commas, use the following strategies:

1. • Skim your paper, looking only at the first word of each sentence.

2. • Stop if the word or phrase

--ends in -ing

--begins with to

--begins with a preposition (in, at, on, etc.)

--is an introductory word (well, yes, moreover, etc.)

• Place a comma before the first word of the independent clause.

Example: To get a good grade, you should hand in all your homework problems.

OR

--Find the independent clause in each sentence.

--You often need a comma after each word or phrase which precedes that clause. But watch out for coordinating conjunctions.

DISRUPTIVE COMMAS

1. For disruptive commas between compound verbs or objects:

1. • Skim your paper, stopping only at the coordinating conjunctions:

and nor but

so for yet

or

1. • Check to see whether there is an independent clause (sentence) on each side of the conjunction. If so, place a comma before the conjunction. If not, do not place a comma before the conjunction.

Disruptive comma: They bought two pizzas, but ate only one.

Correct: They bought two pizzas but ate only one.

2. For disruptive commas between subjects and verbs:

1. • Find the subject and verb in each of your sentences.

2. • Make sure that you have not separated the subject from its verb with one comma. (It's often all right to have a pair of commas between a subject and a verb, but rarely is a single comma acceptable.)

--Disruptive comma between subject and verb: That man sitting in the train station, is the person I'm supposed to meet.

--Correct: That man sitting in the train station is the person I'm supposed to meet.

SERIES COMMAS

1. Skim your paper, stopping at the conjunctions and & or.

2. Check to see if these conjunctions link words, phrases, or clauses written in a series.

3. If so, place commas after each word, phrase, or clause in the series (except the last one, as demonstrated in this sentence--no comma after clause.)

Example: People who are trying to reduce cholesterol in their diets avoid eggs, meat, and tropical oils.

NON-ESSENTIAL COMMAS

1. Skim your paper, looking for a phrase or clause in each sentence that explains or gives more information about a word or phrase that comes before it.

2. If you can delete the phrase or clause and still keep the meaning, the phrase or clause is usually non-essential and needs two commas, one before and one after (unless the phrase or clause is at the end of the sentence.)

3. As an alternative test for a non-essential phrase or clause, try saying "by the way" before it. If that seems appropriate to the meaning, the phrase or clause is probably non-essential.

Example: My Aunt Edna, who moved to San Francisco last year, writes children's stories.

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Commas

The most common errors that I see in writing are comma usage mistakes. I see college seniors making the same mistakes as 5^th graders, and it comes from being  unfamiliar with the rules for comma usage. In fact, MOST COLLEGE SOPHOMORES CANNOT PROPERLY USE A COMMA. If you'll take the time just to master the basic punctuation rules governing commas, you can save yourself a lot of points on those English essay grades over your academic career, as well as getting ahead on any standardized English assessment test you might be taking, be it a state placement exam or your ACT or SAT.   Twenty-five percent of the English questions from the ACT deal with punctuation, and the majority of those questions concern commas.

Many people attempt to use commas to “breathe” their voice into their writing, inserting commas where they naturally pause in speaking. This doesn't make a good rule of thumb for prose—in poetry, you have the artistic freedom to shirk such conventions, but in all but the most “artistic” prose should obey the simple rules of comma usage.

These guidelines will help you in mastering comma usage in your own writing, as well as identifying punctuation errors on standardized exams.  Here are my “Fundamental Rules for the Comma.” I'll provide some more detailed guidelines for proofreading for commas in my next posting. Meantime, if you have any questions concerning comma usage, just let me know, or schedule a tutoring session with www.tutorvista.com and have one of our expert tutors (like me!) go through and explain comma usage with you one-on-one.

The Ten Fundamental Rules For the Comma

1. The members of a series are separated by commas.

Ex. John, Jim, Tom, George, Bill, and Joe are here.

2. Words used in direct address should be set off by commas.

Ex. I am sure, Alice, that you will succeed in life.

3. Appositives not closely connected are set off with commas.

Ex. John, the captain of the team, is very popular.

4. Commas are used to separate introductory words, phrases, or clauses from the remainder of the sentence.

Ex. Yes, I have decided to go.

Ex. When the guests arrive at noon, we shall have lunch.

5. A comma is used to set off a short direct quotation.

Ex. "I am sure," he said, "that we shall have a good time."

6. Geographical names that explain other names are set off with commas.

Ex. We shall visit Miami, Florida, next winter.

7. Any parenthetical or inserted matter in a sentence is set off with commas.

Ex. I shall go, of course, if you need me.

Ex. The boys, however, prefer games.

8. A comma should be placed before and, but, for, yet, or, and nor when they are used to introduce independent clauses.

Ex. He came, but he has gone home.

Ex. I went to bed early, for I was very tired.

9. A comma is used to indicate the omission of a word or of an expression in the sentence.

Ex. John is studying history; Tom, French; and Jane, English.

10. A comma is used to separate the name of the month from the year and the name of the city from the state.

Ex. He moved to Baltimore, Maryland, on October 16, 1933.