What the Heck Is a Semicolon and When Do I Use It?

Have you ever been typing an email and wondered if and when you should use a semicolon? Do you sometimes just stick it in the middle of a sentence and hope for the best? You're not alone. Semicolons are probably one of the most misused forms of punctuation on the planet. 

A sort of hybrid between a comma and a colon, the semicolon is a magical little device that is actually quite useful, but usually not used correctly. So, what is it?

Essentially, the semicolon functions in two main ways:

1. As a comma to distinguish between items in a list with their own sets of punctuation​ (commas)
   1. Example: "I have several favorite books: the Game of Thrones series, by George R. R. Martin; the Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling; and The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver." Notice how the semicolons separate phrases that have commas already in place.
2. As a "pause" between two independent clauses that can stand on their own, thereby joining the two ideas into one
   1. Example: "I really love ice cream; my favorite flavor is chocolate." "I really love ice cream" and "My favorite flavor is chocolate" are each complete sentences on their own, so you can use a semicolon to join the two ideas into one without having to break them into two separate sentences. The trick here is that both have to be complete sentences; if one is a fragment, then using a semicolon will not work because that phrase will not stand on its own.

Confusing? Yes, it definitely can be at times. If you have a moment, I'd recommend checking out the below video by the Comma Queen, a copy editor at the New Yorker. She does a great job explaining the differences, and it might give you some additional insight into that terrifying little punctuation mark. Once you're done with that, give us a shout out on our contact form; we love to work with semicolons and when you hire a pro to check your work, you can be sure it will have all of those suckers in the correct spots. Your boss will be cheering for your impeccable grammar and mechanics in no time.