As we already mentioned, the most common mistakes are almost always to do with mixing semicolons up with either colons or commas. So we’ll inspect those again with some specific examples for you to see why it is wrong, and we’ll remind you briefly about how you can remember to avoid these common grammar mistakes.

In Place of Colons

There are two reasons that you should use a colon to connect ideas: to emphasize the second idea over the first, or to connect with a dependent clause. With semicolons, only use them to connect two independent clauses that are equally important. In both cases, the two ideas should relate to one another.

You should also use colons to introduce a list, and semicolons as part of a complicated list where additional information has been provided about the items. So, look at these examples and see if you can spot the problems based on the rules we have discussed:

1) I had pasta last night; chicken tonight. (Incorrect)

2) I’m heading to the park after work: it’s Christmas in a few weeks. (Incorrect)

3) I’ll need you to pick up these five things; my lunch, my water bottle, my stapler, my pen, and my laptop. (Incorrect)

Did you spot all the problems? Here are all the mistakes that were made.

1) The first one should have been a colon, because ‘chicken tonight’ is a dependent clause. Like this:

• I had pasta last night: chicken tonight. (Correct)

2) This one was a trick to see if you remembered the fundamental part about colons and semicolons: the ideas must always be related! Because they are not in this case, a period is better used:

• I’m heading to the part after work. It’s Christmas in a few weeks. (Correct)

3) We used the semicolon incorrectly, only a colon should introduce a list. Like this;

• I’ll need you to pick up these five things: my lunch, my water bottle, my stapler, my pen, and my laptop. (Correct)