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A semi-colon is longer than a comma, but shorter than a full stop. It can be used in several ways, such as separating phrases in a list, and also to join two sentences which are linked thematically together. If you would like to do a session I would be happy to give you a fuller explanation and take you through some exercises in order to practice using semi colons yourself.
10 December 2011
It's helpful in cutting word counts for coursework essays; you can use it instead of 'because'.
17 January 2012
I'd agree with yvmason that it's useful in linking two sentences together. I find that a lot of people use a comma where it should be a semi-colon. A comma should only be used to j oin 2 parts of a sentence
19 January 2012
sorry - it went before I'd finished! Was saying that a comma should only be used to join 2 parts of a sentence together, not to join 2 sentences together. For instance this is right: 'I loved my walk in the woods; the autumn colours were beautiful'. This is wrong: 'I loved my walk in the woods, the autumn colours were beautiful'.
19 January 2012
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