How to use semicolons

Read this to learn how to utilize semicolons.

Semicolons connect independent clauses together. An independent clause can stand alone: ‘I am interested in music’, but a dependent or subordinate clause cannot: ‘because I like the way it makes me feel’. A sentence must consist of at least one independent clause, and may include additional dependent clauses (or tags, phrases, etc.).

If they are related, independent clauses can be linked using a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so): ‘I am interested in music, but I do not like philosophy’. Use a semicolon and omit the conjunction when there exists a parallelism, contrast, or to speed up the pace between the independent clauses: ‘I am interested in music; I do not like philosophy’.

Semicolons can be used before conjunctive adverbs (however, therefore, meanwhile, etc.) when they connect two full clauses; full stops can be used as well, and a comma comes right after the conjunctive adverb: ‘I am interested in music; however, I do not like philosophy’.

When a list includes items that use a comma, a semicolon should be used to differentiate the list items: ‘I have lived in Brussels, Belgium; Paris, France; and Berlin, Germany’.