Ah, the semi-colon. It’s such a beautiful punctuation mark; it can add something exquisite to a sentence. Unfortunately, it is also frequently misused. And I don’t know about you, but any time I see a semi-colon used incorrectly, I cringe and want to bring out a gigantic red pen.
The place where I have recently seen semi-colons misused is at the beginning of a list. In this case, it is incorrectly used in place of a colon. For example:
The following are all animals;
- Dog
- Cat
- Horse
The example above, which I have highlighted in bold, illustrates how a semi-colon should NOT be used. Replace it with a colon and you’re golden!
As a general rule, you can use a semi-colon in the middle of the sentence IF both parts of the sentence (on either side of the semi-colon) could be stand-alone sentences. But please, never use a semi-colon before starting a list. It looks ugly, and it’s incorrect. Embrace the semi-colon only if you really know how to use it!
That critical moment when I realize I have inspired a blog post. Hand on face, starfish style…
Ahahaha! No no, I promise it wasn’t you 🙂