The Semicolon

By Richard Lederer

from the forth-coming book COMMA SENSE: A FUN-DAMENTAL GUIDE TO PUNCTUATION (St. Martin's Press, co-authored with John Shore)

Conjure up an image of a period hanging suspended in the air. It's just a vagrant dot-until a curly comma jive-walks in from stage right and places itself directly beneath that period. With the wa-wa-wa of the slide trombone and the pitter-boink-boink of the xylophone, with a brash piano's tinkling heat, the clarinet's cry, and the snare drum's beat, we present one of the most eclectic and sophisticated marks in all of punctuationdom-the semicolon.

The main function of the semicolon is to indicate a pause more strongly than would a comma and more weakly than would a period. Maybe that's why the semicolon is composed of a period balanced on top of a comma. The coalescence of that standard and staid period and that squiggly, swinging comma creates something quite new-the semicolon. It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

The innovative melding of the rhythms of disparate elements. The improvisational meeting of tradition and originality. Eclectic. Sophisticated. It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing.

Are we talking about the semicolon, or are we talking about . . . Duke Ellington? Well, we're talking about both, baby.

He was the Duke: Duke Elegant. Duke Eloquent. One of the most famous figures in American jazz. One of the world's greatest composers and performers.

Eclectic is a fancy word for "melding the best of various elements and styles." That, surely, is what Duke Ellington did: He composed enduring, sophisticated jazz pieces such as "Mood Indigo," "In My Solitude," "Sophisticated Lady," "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," and, of course, "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)." He also created longer orchestral pieces and gospel and religious symphonies. Like America itself (and like the semicolon, but that's obvious, isn't it?), he fused a collide-o-scope of traditions into something unique. He changed the idiom of jazz forever.

Talk about eclectic audiences: By the end of his fifty-year career, Duke Ellington had played more than 20,000 performances worldwide. He played for Queen Elizabeth II and for Richard Nixon. He played at society balls and embassy parties. He played at the Cotton Club. He played from New York to New Delhi, Chicago to Cairo, Los Angeles to London.

Wherever he went, stylish Duke Ellington always bore in mind that scoring a jazz composition was just like punctuating a sentence. All flights of innovation must take wing from the bedrock of the rules. The rules for the semicolon are especially challenging, but now that you're such a virtuous virtuoso of punctuation, these guidelines will be an easy set:

Use a semicolon to join closely related independent clauses in compound sentences. (You do remember what independent clauses and compound sentences are, don't you? If not, please go back and review the previous chapter, on commas.)

I often blow my own horn, trumpet my achievements, and beat the drum for my career; it's my way of saying to the world, "Hey, I'm fit as a fiddle, and I don't fiddle around or play second fiddle to anyone!"

The authors of this book try to strike a responsive chord, pull out all the stops, and never soft-pedal any aspects of punctuation; our competitors, on the other hand, play it by ear and give you a second-string performance.

When the second clause is introduced by a conjunctive adverb (then, however, nevertheless, moreover, thus, therefore, and the like), use a semicolon. Employing a comma in this situation results in a sentence error called a comma fault:

We don't wish to chime in too much and harp on this subject; nevertheless, we hope to tune your tin ear to the tenor of our language.

Not:

We don't wish to chime in too much and harp on this subject, nevertheless, we hope to tune your tin ear to the tenor of our language.

Use a semicolon to separate independent clauses that already contain commas:

We, your keynote speakers, sing the praises of accurate punctuation to beat the band; but we don't work for a song, waltz in and teach you the cymbalism, and then waltz right out.

We, your unsung heroes, wouldn't want to imply that it's time for you to hop on the bandwagon, face the music, and sing a different tune; but we're not whistling Dixie when we say that it's time for you, Johnny One-Note, to know your brass from your oboe.
Use a semicolon as an extra-powerful comma between items in a series that already contain commas:

Although we have tried to explain in a tasteful, melodious manner the distinctions among introducing marks of punctuation, such as commas, colons, and dashes; separating marks, such as commas, semicolons, and periods; and end-of-sentence marks, such as periods, question marks, and exclamations points, you probably still feel that this book is filled with too much sax and violins.

Now that you're all jazzed up about the semicolon-and about punctuation marks in general-you're ready to harmonize your thoughts with your writing and make beautiful music to the world. You Won't Be So Cool If You Don't Got That Rule-and all that jazz.