Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and I’m back to once again make the case against semicolons.
First, let’s cover what a semicolon does and does not do. It is not used to start lists. It does not come before a conjunction like “and” or “but.” It is used to join two sentences that would otherwise be complete by themselves. For example, if I say, “The cat was big; fluffy cats are the best,” I could make those two sentences into one by adding a semicolon between.
My question is: Why wouldn’t you just make those two separate sentences? Even if they’re clearly related, do you really need a special, somewhat rare, somewhat odd-looking punctuation mark to show that—or could you just rephrase the sentence to make the relationship clearer?
Semicolons are weird-looking little hybrids. It’s generally best to avoid using them altogether, and if you do decide to use them, don’t use them more than once.
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