Se·mi·co·lon [ˌsemɪˈkoʊ̯lən] is a punctuationmark found at the unicode point U+003B ⟨
;⟩. It has similar uses to comma ⟨
,⟩ and full stop ⟨
.⟩. It can be thought of as a
supercomma or a
weak period. The
supercomma sense can be seen in lists where each item has a relative clause with it:
“Peter bought the following items: milk, which is rich in calcium; oranges, which contain vitamin-C; and rye bread, which has lots of fibers.”
Because commas are already used in the description of each item, the semicolon is used for seperating them at one level above the comma.
The
weak period is used when two grammatically seperate clauses have a connection discourse-wise:
“I have to go now; my train leaves in five minutes.”
So it is somewhere between a comma and a period, which is why this auther loves this element of punctuation. One should note, however, that it is highly addictive; it is very difficult to stop, once one has started using semicolons. They should not be over-used; one per page is more than enough. (Oops!)
In Greek a symbol identical to the semicolon is used as a questionmark. Only, it has a seperate unicode point: U+037E ⟨
;⟩.
Speaking of questionmarks, there should be a
semiquestionmark and a
semiexclamationmark, for when the first of two clauses seperated by a comma is a question or an exclamation. Concider this sentence for example:
“Did you do your written assignment, because I haven't recieved it?”
This is how you would write it as it is now, but with a semiquestionmark it would make much more sense:
