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Key Points to Remember When Using a Hyphen
It would be difficult to remember every rule associated with a hyphen because there are so many different ways to use them. The key though, is knowing that hyphens are very different to em dashes and en dashes and they are not interchangeable as some people mistakenly believe. If you look over this guide a…
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Hyphen (-)
The symbol (-) is called a hyphen in the English language. A hyphen is a short horizontal line used within words. It is a punctuation mark that is smaller than both the en dash (–) and the em dash (—) and it behaves quite differently in sentences too. The hyphen (-) is different from en dash (–) and…
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Examples of Semicolons in Sentences
Semicolons in Lists Semicolons with Independent Clauses
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In Place of Commas
This is the second most common mistake when using semicolons, confusing them with commas. We can use a comma to connect two independent clauses only when we use a coordinating conjunction. We can use a semicolon to connect two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction. Second, we use commas in simple lists, and we use semicolons in…
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Common Semicolon Mistakes and How to Avoid
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…
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How To Use a Semicolon with Quotation Marks
Semicolons with Quotation Marks Now that you can be confident with how semicolons work in sentences and what their functions are, there’s only one question remaining: what happens if you have both a semicolon and quotation marks? This is important enough to look at separately from the above section. You can use colons to introduce quotations,…
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Semicolons vs. Colons vs. Dashes
Hopefully, we’re now pretty clear on colons and semicolons. But we might need a quick refresher on dashes to know when we should use them. First off, dashes only replace colons and semicolons when connecting clauses. Dashes will never be appropriate in a list. To decide whether you want to replace a colon or semicolon with a…
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Should You Capitalize the First Letter After a Semicolon?
You shouldn’t capitalize the first letter after a semicolon unless it is a proper noun. Treat the semicolon like a comma and follow normal grammatical rules after placing one. Don’t capitalize words after a semicolon! Though they have their similarities, a semicolon isn’t a full stop. Just like you don’t need a capital letter after…
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When To Use a Semicolon
As we’ve already mentioned, there are really only two reasons you would need to use a semicolon: 1) As part of a list that is more complicated because it provides additional details. 2) To join two independent clauses that have a similar theme or idea but could work separately as two sentences in their own…