Semicolons and colons can be a little confusing! How are they alike? How are they different?

Today, we're going to talk about something great: semicolons and colons!

They both work to join ideas in writing. What kind of ideas can they join, though?

Semicolons

Semicolons are pretty simple! They always join two independent clauses, or complete sentences. The two clauses must be related to each other.

What makes a sentence complete?

Independent clauses or complete sentences need a subject, a verb, and (often, but not always) an object.

For example:

The boy loves his dog.

She runs.

These are two independent clauses, and we could join them!

Well, what are you waiting for? Show me how to join the clauses!

To join these sentences with a semicolon, we simply get rid of the first period to replace it with a semicolon and make the first letter of the second clause lower case!

The boy loves his dog; she runs.

Wow, that's excellent; I bet she's a great runner!

Now you try! Join these independent clauses.

1. John loves Sarah. She is kind.

2. Taylor ate cake. He said his diet is over.

3. My internet is fast. I can do anything online.

Let's practice; semicolons don't scare me!

Just remember that you cannot join a dependent clause (or two) using a semicolon!

Finally; the girl was turning 15.

Notice; [you] do not run in the hallway!

So two COMPLETE sentences. Got it! Let's take a closer look.

To elaborate, if you cannot remove the semicolon from the writing and replace it with two periods or a comma and a conjunction, you have misused the semicolon!

The only exception is when you need to join two lists, or a list with items that already have commas.

Easy peasy! Show me how!

Here's an example:

She had a long road trip ahead! She had to visit Nashville, TN; Charlotte, NC; Atlanta, GA; and Tampa, FL.

In Nashville, where she lives, she had to prepare her things and fill up her gas tank; and on her way to Charlotte, which is a very long drive, she had to stop many times for food, water, and to take a break.

This is a stylistic choice; it is not required. You could simply break this into multiple sentences. In fact, in academic writing, you should opt to separate the sentences in this case to keep things crystal clear!

That way it doesn't get too confusing! That's brilliant.

Recap:

Semicolons join two full sentences, or independent clauses.

Semicolons can join items in a series where there are too many commas involved and it gets confusing.

I've got it! I'm ready to hear about colons now! I can't wait!

Colons

Colons are pretty easy, too! They can also join two independent clauses, or complete sentences.

That's easy ... but how will I know which one to use?