I’m very, very fond of the semi-colon, despite the fact that few people can figure out how to use it. After all, it doesn’t seem quite as necessary as the comma, which allows you to pause in between your sentences, and the exclamation/question marks that reveal the speaker’s emotions.

The period, of course, needs no mention, given its already star status in the world of grammatical marks.

Anyway, a hoax some time back swirled around the death of the semi-colon; supposedly, Nicolas Sarkozy had initiated a crackdown on the much misunderstood little punctuation mark. By the way, if your eyes are sharp enough, you should have noticed my use of the semi-colon somewhere in the sentences past.

Ever since I learned how to use the semi-colon, it turned into some sort of obsession. I love using the semi-colon; I don’t think I can ever live without it. Some may think that using it is tantamount to some sort of grammatical snobbery, but that’s not true. It’s just addicting. I feel liberated from those pesky conjunction words.

So how exactly is it used? I am campaigning for wider use of the beautiful semi-colon, and would of course gladly share my information with you, dear readers. Here’s two ways you can use the semi-colon in everyday grammar. Once you learn how to use it, you’ll be thinking completely in semi-colons. Here goes:

1. When you have two sentences that are so close using a period to separate them would wreck the entire thought. These sentences are usually the ones that can be connected with conjunctions like “but” and “and”. For example:

I love her; I would rather die than see her in the arms of another.

This usage is not limited to sentences that can be brought together by “but” and “and”. Even if there are no clear-cut conjunctions to use, as long as the sentences would be better off connected rather than broken off by an untimely period, it would be best to emphasize this continuity with the semi-colon.

The storm seems to be getting stronger; I suppose we shall not be going to the party after all.

2. When using too many commas just won’t cut it. Sometimes, it is necessary to use dividers when stating a list in your sentence. A comma may not be a sufficient divider; as such, the semi-colon is used. This is done especially when the comma is used for other purposes in the sentences (as in internal commas within the items to be separated). For example:

I am quite fond of visiting my aunts in Paris, France; Beijing, China; and Manila, Philippines.

See? That wasn’t complicated at all. Now you can use the semi-colon without breaking a sweat. Try it out and see how sentences can be a lot prettier with these punctuation marks.

XOXO,