full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Emma Bryce: How to use a semicolon
Unscramble the Blue Letters
It may seem like the semicolon is struggling with an identity csiirs. It looks like a comma crossed with a period. Maybe that's why we toss these punctuation marks around like grammatical confetti. We're confused about how to use them properly. In fact, it's the semicolon's half-half status that makes it useful. It's stronger than a comma, and less fianl than a period. It fills the spaces in between, and for that reason, it has some specific and important tasks. For one, it can clarify ideas in a senctnee that's already festooned with commas. "Semicolons: At first, they may seem frightening, then, they become enlightening, finally, you'll find yourself falling for these delightful punctuation marks." Even though the camoms separate different parts of the sentence, it's easy to lose track of what belongs where. But then the semicolon edges in to the rucsee. In list-like seecetnns, it can exert more force than commas do, cituntg sentences into compartments and grouping imtes that belong together. The semicolon breaks things up, but it also bluids connections. Another of its tasks is to link together independent clauses. These are sentences that can stand on their own, but when connected by semicolons, look and sound better because they're related in some way. "Semicolons were once a gerat mystery to me. I had no idea where to put them." Technically, there's nothing wrong with that. These two sentences can stand alone. But imagine they appeared in a long list of other sentences, all of the same length, each separated by periods. Things would get monotonous very fast. In that situation, semicolons bring fluidity and variation to wtinrig by connecting related clauses. But as beneficial as they are, semicolons don't belong just anywhere. There are two main rlues that grveon their use. ftirlsy, unless they're being used in lists, sominelocs should only connect clauses that are reateld in some way. You wouldn't use one here, for instance: "Semicolons were once a great mystery to me; I'd really like a siwdanch." Periods work best here because these are two totally different ideas. A semicolon's job is to reunite two independent clauses that will benefit from one another's company because they refer to the same thing. Secondly, you'll almost never find a smeciooln willingly stationed before ciooanntdirg conjunctions: the wdros, "and," "but," "for," "nor," "or," "so," and "yet." That's a comma's place, in fact. But a semicolon can replace a conjunction to shorten a sentence or to give it some vteiray. uaitelltmy, this underappreciated puittnocuan mark can give writing clarity, force, and style, all encompassed in one tiny dot and squiggle that's just waiitng to be put in the right place.
Open Cloze
It may seem like the semicolon is struggling with an identity ______. It looks like a comma crossed with a period. Maybe that's why we toss these punctuation marks around like grammatical confetti. We're confused about how to use them properly. In fact, it's the semicolon's half-half status that makes it useful. It's stronger than a comma, and less _____ than a period. It fills the spaces in between, and for that reason, it has some specific and important tasks. For one, it can clarify ideas in a ________ that's already festooned with commas. "Semicolons: At first, they may seem frightening, then, they become enlightening, finally, you'll find yourself falling for these delightful punctuation marks." Even though the ______ separate different parts of the sentence, it's easy to lose track of what belongs where. But then the semicolon edges in to the ______. In list-like _________, it can exert more force than commas do, _______ sentences into compartments and grouping _____ that belong together. The semicolon breaks things up, but it also ______ connections. Another of its tasks is to link together independent clauses. These are sentences that can stand on their own, but when connected by semicolons, look and sound better because they're related in some way. "Semicolons were once a _____ mystery to me. I had no idea where to put them." Technically, there's nothing wrong with that. These two sentences can stand alone. But imagine they appeared in a long list of other sentences, all of the same length, each separated by periods. Things would get monotonous very fast. In that situation, semicolons bring fluidity and variation to _______ by connecting related clauses. But as beneficial as they are, semicolons don't belong just anywhere. There are two main _____ that ______ their use. _______, unless they're being used in lists, __________ should only connect clauses that are _______ in some way. You wouldn't use one here, for instance: "Semicolons were once a great mystery to me; I'd really like a ________." Periods work best here because these are two totally different ideas. A semicolon's job is to reunite two independent clauses that will benefit from one another's company because they refer to the same thing. Secondly, you'll almost never find a _________ willingly stationed before ____________ conjunctions: the _____, "and," "but," "for," "nor," "or," "so," and "yet." That's a comma's place, in fact. But a semicolon can replace a conjunction to shorten a sentence or to give it some _______. __________, this underappreciated ___________ mark can give writing clarity, force, and style, all encompassed in one tiny dot and squiggle that's just _______ to be put in the right place.
Solution
- punctuation
- builds
- sentence
- variety
- sandwich
- final
- coordinating
- crisis
- rescue
- govern
- items
- semicolons
- rules
- semicolon
- firstly
- sentences
- cutting
- waiting
- commas
- words
- writing
- ultimately
- great
- related
Original Text
It may seem like the semicolon is struggling with an identity crisis. It looks like a comma crossed with a period. Maybe that's why we toss these punctuation marks around like grammatical confetti. We're confused about how to use them properly. In fact, it's the semicolon's half-half status that makes it useful. It's stronger than a comma, and less final than a period. It fills the spaces in between, and for that reason, it has some specific and important tasks. For one, it can clarify ideas in a sentence that's already festooned with commas. "Semicolons: At first, they may seem frightening, then, they become enlightening, finally, you'll find yourself falling for these delightful punctuation marks." Even though the commas separate different parts of the sentence, it's easy to lose track of what belongs where. But then the semicolon edges in to the rescue. In list-like sentences, it can exert more force than commas do, cutting sentences into compartments and grouping items that belong together. The semicolon breaks things up, but it also builds connections. Another of its tasks is to link together independent clauses. These are sentences that can stand on their own, but when connected by semicolons, look and sound better because they're related in some way. "Semicolons were once a great mystery to me. I had no idea where to put them." Technically, there's nothing wrong with that. These two sentences can stand alone. But imagine they appeared in a long list of other sentences, all of the same length, each separated by periods. Things would get monotonous very fast. In that situation, semicolons bring fluidity and variation to writing by connecting related clauses. But as beneficial as they are, semicolons don't belong just anywhere. There are two main rules that govern their use. Firstly, unless they're being used in lists, semicolons should only connect clauses that are related in some way. You wouldn't use one here, for instance: "Semicolons were once a great mystery to me; I'd really like a sandwich." Periods work best here because these are two totally different ideas. A semicolon's job is to reunite two independent clauses that will benefit from one another's company because they refer to the same thing. Secondly, you'll almost never find a semicolon willingly stationed before coordinating conjunctions: the words, "and," "but," "for," "nor," "or," "so," and "yet." That's a comma's place, in fact. But a semicolon can replace a conjunction to shorten a sentence or to give it some variety. Ultimately, this underappreciated punctuation mark can give writing clarity, force, and style, all encompassed in one tiny dot and squiggle that's just waiting to be put in the right place.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| independent clauses |
2 |
| great mystery |
2 |
Important Words
- appeared
- belong
- belongs
- beneficial
- benefit
- breaks
- bring
- builds
- clarify
- clarity
- clauses
- comma
- commas
- company
- compartments
- confetti
- confused
- conjunction
- connect
- connected
- connecting
- connections
- coordinating
- crisis
- crossed
- cutting
- delightful
- dot
- easy
- edges
- encompassed
- enlightening
- exert
- fact
- falling
- fast
- festooned
- fills
- final
- finally
- find
- firstly
- fluidity
- force
- frightening
- give
- govern
- grammatical
- great
- grouping
- idea
- ideas
- identity
- imagine
- important
- independent
- items
- job
- length
- link
- list
- lists
- long
- lose
- main
- mark
- marks
- monotonous
- mystery
- parts
- period
- periods
- place
- properly
- punctuation
- put
- reason
- refer
- related
- replace
- rescue
- reunite
- rules
- sandwich
- semicolon
- semicolons
- sentence
- sentences
- separate
- separated
- shorten
- situation
- sound
- spaces
- specific
- squiggle
- stand
- stationed
- status
- stronger
- struggling
- style
- tasks
- technically
- tiny
- toss
- totally
- track
- ultimately
- underappreciated
- variation
- variety
- waiting
- willingly
- words
- work
- writing
- wrong