Semicolons

Let's start with some trivia! What is Loretta's favorite punctuation mark? (Yes, I, a proud book nerd, actually have a favorite.)

Answer: the Semicolon! 

Semicolons are a frightening prospect for many writers, and it is often misused. It doesn't need to be scary, though, as it's actually quite a friendly mark once you get used to it. 

What's the basic rule of semicolons?

Semicolons link two complete sentences that are dependent on each other for deeper meaning. 

Example:

Cookie ate my bamboo plant last night; he was delighted by the unconventional flavor. 

What does the semicolon add to this sentence?

If this were written as two sentences, we'd come to a full stop in between the ideas:

Cookie ate my bamboo plant last night. 

He was delighted by the unconventional flavor. 

Grammatically, this is still correct, but combining them with a semicolon emphasizes how the two ideas are related: My cat's bamboo feast tasted good, so he kept eating. 

The 2nd complete sentence (He was delighted by the unconventional flavor.) explains why Cookie ate the plant. Combining these sentences highlights how the tastiness of the bamboo plant enticed my cat's appetite. 

When should you NOT use a semicolon?

Do not use a semicolon with a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). That's a comma job.

WRONG: Cookie ate my bamboo plant; and he was delighted by the flavor. 

CORRECT: Cookie ate my bamboo plant, and he was delighted by the flavor.

Don't overuse the semicolon, either. It exists to create a special moment of emphasis. If you're wondering if you've added too many, look to my go-to rule for semicolons: 

Only 1 semicolon for every 3 pages. 

What else can the glorious semicolon do?

As dubbed by the Oatmeal, it can become a "super-comma"!

With your trusty semicolon, you can separate lists:

I have family in Ocean Point, Maine; Denver, Colorado; and Escondido, California. 

And you can combine multiple descriptors in one sentence:

In Avengers, Tony Stark, the genius billionaire; Natasha Romanoff, the super spy; and Steve Rodgers, the one who got the Wizard of Oz reference, fight to save the world from an alien invasion.

The Oatmeal on Semicolons: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon