Semicolons and Advanced Additive Sentences

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***Part One: Use a Semicolon, Goddamn It

Hi, it's Gower, here to teach you how to use semicolons to create some more types of sentences. This article builds from the lessons in my previous article on Basic Additive Sentences.

You may have semicolon fear. I respect that, but now is the time to rid yourself of it, denizens of CYStia. It is time to be free.

***Part Two. The Basics

Semicolons, at their most fundamental level, connect two complete sentences.

Here is how you connect two sentences with a semicolon:

“I like cake; I hate cookies.”

In a very real sense, that’s it. Press the space bar just one time after a semicolon, by the way.

Semicolons are pretty much the most agreeable, easiest punctuation mark you’ll ever meet. Their entire goal in life is to connect two independent clauses. The only other “rule” is that the two sentences should be closely related to each other, but that rule almost never comes into play, because how often are you going to try to connect two unrelated sentences? You don’t often see something like this:

“I believe the capital of Tasmania has an opera house; the pigments remain unmixed.”

More often, you’ve just got two full sentences, and you want to connect them.

“The printer jammed; the repairman fixed it.”

***Part Three: Where You Could Possibly Screw Up

You cannot use a semicolon this unless you’ve got two independent clauses. That's just a fancy way of saying "two complete sentences."

This won’t work:

“My sweater is really warm and fluffy; with wooden buttons.”

It won't work because “with wooden buttons” isn’t an independent clause. It's not a complete sentence.

***Part Four: Semicolons Help you Make Additive Sentences

In my previous article on Additive Sentences, I showed you how to make an additive sentence by combining two independent clauses (in other words, two complete sentences) by using comma-fanboys.

I posted in anger making a number of embarrassing typos. Mizal editlocked me.

thus becomes

I posted in anger making a number of embarrassing typos, so Mizal editlocked me.

Now, if we like, we can use the semicolon instead.

I posted in anger making a number of embarrassing typos; Mizal editlocked me.

This all leads to a question: would you ever want to use a semicolon when you’ve already got a perfectly serviceable tool in comma-fanboys? Is it completely redundant?

My sense is that you can’t have too many flavors available to you as a writer.

A semicolon connection is smoother than a comma-fanboys, offering less of a speed bump in your sentence. Consider it as another hue available to you, the painter of words, on your writing palette. The rhythm is different. Use that different rhythm interestingly.

But, you have probably noticed something--whereas a fanboy word can assert a relationship between the two clauses, a semicolon can't. In other words, if I say

Ogre has a stupid amount of commendations, but I'll assume he acquired them legally.

Using "but" there tells the reader that the second clause is *unexpected* or *surprising* considering the first clause.

If instead I wrote

Ogre has a stupid amount of commendations, so I'll assume he acquired them legally.

The word "so" tells the reader that the second clause is expected. That sentence says that Ogre's stupid amount of commendations leads me to the conclusion that he acquired them legally.

But if I said

Ogre has a stupid amount of commendations, and I'll assume he acquired them legally.

That word "and" is just glue. It doesn't assert anything. That's all a semicolon can do. It's just glue.

Ogre has a stupid amount of commendations; I'll assume he acquired them legally.

***Part Five: Mix and Match

You can use semicolons and comma-fanboys in the same sentence with more than one clause!

Leora is the ninth most distinguished Warden; that's a real achievement, but I bet she can climb even higher.

Note the semicolon and the comma-fanboy. Note that each of the three clauses of the sentence are independent clauses. They could all stand on their own as sentences:

Leora is the ninth most distinguished Warden.

That's a real achievement.

I bet she can climb even higher.

***Part Six: But Don't Mix Semicolons with Fanboys, because That's like Mixing Dark Rum and Mustard

You can't do this:

My game got unpublished; and I'm really mad.

Fanboys don't want semicolons. They want commas.

***Part Seven: The Final Way to Create an Additive Sentence: Semicolon-transition-comma

This is an advanced technique. Let's say you like semicolons, honestly you do! But it annoys you that they are only glue. You can't assert a relationship between the two clauses like with "so" or "yet"! Well, now you can!

It works like this--we'll start with two sentences, like always.

Gower just posted an update to the Tally Ho thread. I'm too busy to vote in it.

You connect them with the semicolon...

Gower just posted an update to the Tally Ho thread; I'm too busy to vote in it.

Then we add a transition word that *isn't* a fanboy. Repeat, fanboys are not permitted in this technique.

Gower just posted an update to the Tally Ho thread; however, I'm too busy to vote in it.

You put the transition word after the semicolon, and then comma. The formula is

semicolon+transition word+ comma

I didn't write my contest entry; obviously, I'm going to be SHAMED.

Now, if you wanted to, you could have written

I didn't write my contest entry, so I'm going to be SHAMED.

or you could have written

I didn't write my contest entry; I'm going to be SHAMED.

or you could have written

I didn't write my contest entry. I'm going to be SHAMED.

All are acceptable. But using the semicolon-transition-comma is an interesting and really useful pattern to know.

***Part Eight: So what words can you use as transition words?

So many of them that I couldn't hope to list them all. Here's a list of the big ones. And by the way, the technical name for these are conjunctive adverbs, and now please forget that name.

also

hence

however

in addition

in spite of that

instead

meanwhile

nevertheless

on the contrary

regardless

still

therefore

unfortunately (or fortunately)

also practically any word that ends with -ly:

consequently

finally

obviously

stupidly

Notice by the way, that some of those transition words are actually phrases--multi-word transitions. That's fine.

***Part Nine: You know Everything and are Like Unto a God

You now know all about semicolons, and can write three distinct forms of additive sentences. Use them all to mix up the sounds and rhythm of your prose. Your reader will thank you.