Jennifer: Hello everybody. Welcome back to my channel
Sparkle English where I teach you different ways that you can
improve your level of English. Today's video is a part of my
English Writing Essentials series. I've linked in the
description below to my playlist on all the different videos I
have so far in this series including how to use colons,
apostrophes, quotation marks, capitalization rules and more.
Today's video is on how to use semicolons. So let's get
started. In this lesson, you will learn how to use semicolons
correctly when writing in English. This right here is a
colon, and this is a semicolon. You can see in the description
below I have linked you to a video on how to use colons. But
today we're going to talk all about how to use semicolons.
Semicolons are kind of like hybrid between periods or full
stops and commas. We use semicolons to join two closely
related independent clauses in more complex lists with
punctuation and between independent clauses that are
linked with conjunctive adverbs. Now I know this sounds very
confusing and very complicated. But don't worry, because in this
video I'm going to break down rule by rule how to use
semicolons. And I promise you that at the end of this video,
you will understand all the different uses of when we use
semicolons. So the first rule is that we can use a semicolon
between closely related independent clauses which are
not joined by a coordinating conjunction. So we use
semicolons between to complete sentences, which are not already
linked by words, like and, but or, nor for so and yet. So here
are three different examples of how we could write these
sentences. Let's look at the first example. I'm going to
order fish. He is going to order steak. So here we have two
different independent clauses that are closely related. In
this first example, we have ended the sentence with a period
and then started a new sentence with a capital H for he. And
this is correct. We could also connect these two sentences by
using a conjunction. So in the second example, I'm going to
order fish and he is going to order steak. That is also
correct. Now the third example, we're going to use a semicolon
to connect these two sentences because they're very closely
related. I'm going to order fish, semicolon, and you can see
the semicolon is directly connected to the H. We don't put
a space. I'm going to order fish... right after the H we put
the semicolon. Then we put a space and then he is going to
order steak. You can see here that we have not capitalized the
H in he because we're making this one complete sentence using
a semicolon so we do not capitalize the first letter.
Unless of course, this word was a proper noun, or a word that is
always capitalized. So because these two sentences are closely
related, we can combine them using a semicolon. I'm going to
order fish; he is going to order steak. So let's look at some
more examples following this. I don't really like dessert, semi
colon. I prefer savory foods. Again, these two sentences are
directly related or closely related. So we can use a
semicolon. Mom has gone shopping, semicolon, Dad's still
at work. Now here we are only capitalizing the D in Dad
because we're using Dad like it's a name. If you said he's
still at work, you would put it like a small h a lowercase h...
he's still at work. Okay, but we're using a semicolon because
again, these two independent clauses are closely related. My
sister is a party planner. My brother is a photographer. Call
me tomorrow. I'll let you know my decision then. Okay, so all
of these independent clauses are closely related so we can
connect them using a semicolon.
Again, you could also make these into two separate sentences by
putting a period and then a capital letter. But a semicolon
is also an option when they are closely related sentences. So
let's look at rule two. Rule two. We use semicolons between
independent clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb. Maybe you're
wondering what is a conjunctive adverb? Well, don't worry, I'm
going to explain that now. So you should use a semicolon when
you have a conjunctive adverb linking two independent clauses.
Some common conjunctive adverbs include moreover, nevertheless,
however, otherwise, therefore, then, finally, likewise, and
consequently. Okay. So let's look at an example. I can come
to your party tomorrow period, however, I will arrive late.
Because these two independent clauses are closely related, we
can again, join them using a semicolon. I can come to your
party tomorrow, semi colon, however, comma, I will arrive
late. You cannot just put a comma here. You can't put I can
come to your party tomorrow, comma, however, comma, I will
arrive late. You have to put a semicolon. You can either split
this into two different sentences like this first
example. Or in the second example, you put a semicolon,
and then you connect it using the semicolon with the second
independent clause. Let's look at some more examples following
this. I have meetings all day tomorrow, semicolon, otherwise,
comma, I would come for lunch. Again, otherwise is a
conjunctive adverb. He was very tired, semi colon. Nevertheless,
comma, he went on walking. Lauren just got married,
semicolon, meanwhile, comma, I am still single. Susan studied
hard for her English exam, semicolon, therefore, comma, she
got an excellent grade. So again, all of these are
conjunctive adverbs that are joining these two independent
clauses. Otherwise, nevertheless, meanwhile, and
therefore. And when we use these conjunctive adverbs, we have to
use a semicolon before to connect them. You can't just put
a comma, a double comma, you can't do that. Okay, you can
either split this into two different sentences. Or you can
use a semicolon and connect the two sentences together. So let's
look at rule three. We use semicolons between items in a
series containing internal punctuation. So semicolons are
occasionally used, like they're fancy commas. Okay, we use
semicolons to divide the items of a list if the items are long,
or contain internal punctuation. The semicolons help readers keep
track of the divisions between the items in the list. So
normally, when we have a list, we would use a comma. For
example, I went shopping and I bought bread, comma, cheese,
comma, and coffee. Okay, we would use commas to separate the
items in the list. So if we look at this first example here, I
traveled to Spain, Italy, and France last year. Here we put
commas to separate each country, Spain, Italy, and France. Now,
what if I wanted to list the cities and the countries, this
would be incorrect. I traveled to Madrid, comma, Spain, comma,
Rome, comma, Italy, comma, and Paris comma France last year...
this would be incorrect. Because say someone didn't know that
Paris was in France or Rome was in Italy. This would almost
sound like you were saying you went to six different places. I
traveled to Madrid and Spain and Rome and Italy and Paris and
France. And that doesn't make sense because Madrid is in
Spain. That's just one place Madrid, Spain, Rome, Italy,
because there's already punctuation in this list. We
have to use a semicolon to separate these into groups. So
this is what would be correct. I traveled to Madrid, comma,
space. Then we put a semicolon, because that would separate this
into one little group. I traveled to Madrid, Spain,
semicolon, Rome, comma, Italy, semicolon, and Paris, France
last year. And that makes it easy for the reader to
understand. This is three places, Madrid, Spain, Rome,
Italy, and Paris, France. So we would only put the semicolons
after the first two or more. If the list was four or five, this
is only a list of three. So we only have to put it after the
first two before the conjunction. Okay. Let's look at
some more examples. So this first one, we just did this
example. So let's look at this second example. The company
invited Steve, Carl and Ryan to the conference. This would be
correct, because this is clearly three different people, Steve,
Carl and Ryan. But what if we had a more complicated list that
already had punctuation and already had commas? And we
wanted to give more information about the people in the list.
The company invited Steve, the accountant, Carl, the office
manager and Ryan, the bookkeeper, to the conference.
If we only use commas, again, it sounds like we've inviting five
or six different people. The company invited Steve and the
accountant and Carl and the office manager and Ryan and the
bookkeeper to the conference. But we don't want to do that we
want it to be clear that Steve is the accountant, that Carl is
the office manager... that this is only three different people.
So we have to use semicolons. The company invited Steve the
accountant, this semicolon makes it clear that Steve is the name
of the accountant that's being invited. He is the accountant.
This is one person. Carl, the office manager, semicolon,
again, makes it clear that Carl is the office manager and Ryan
comma the bookkeeper to the conference. Okay. And that
again, the semicolons make it clear that this is 123 different
people that are being invited to the conference, not six, five or
six different people. Okay, so now that we have studied the
three different rules of using semicolons, we are ready to
start practicing. I have five different sentences here that
all require semicolons. So your job is to put the semi colons in
these sentences. I recommend you write your answers in the
comment section and see if you're correct. Or just get a
piece of paper and write down on your piece of paper what your
answers are for 1234 and five. So first, I'm going to read you
all five sentences, and then I want you to answer them and
think about where semicolons should go. If you need any help,
go back in the video and watch again, or skip through until you
find the answer. And then come back and try to use the
information you just learned. Okay, so I'm going to read you
through all five sentences first. Number one, Jack is
studying economics. Ruth is studying law. Number two, I'm
not feeling very well, therefore I won't be able to come tonight.
Number three. Let's chat tomorrow. I'll message you in
the morning. Number four. The newest project members are Tony
Thomas, intern, Karen Davis, staff manager and Lee Smith,
project director. Number five. I don't like eating most desserts.
However, I do love ice cream.
Okay, so pause this video and think about your answers. And if
you're ready, let's get started. And I'm going to give you the
answers. So the first one is quite easy. Jack is studying
economics. That is an independent clause that's
closely related to the next independent clause, which is
Ruth is studying law. So we're going to put a semicolon right
after economics. Jack is studying economics, semicolon,
Ruth is studying law. I'm not feeling very well... semicolon
right after the L. Therefore I won't be able to come tonight.
Therefore is a conjunctive adverb. So we have to put a
semicolon right after well to connect to these two. We can't
just put another comma. Let's chat tomorrow. I'll message you
in the morning. Again, these are two different independent
clauses that are closely related. So we're going to put
semicolon right after tomorrow. Let's chat tomorrow, semicolon,
I'll message you in the morning. Now, number four is the most
difficult of all five. Here, we have three different newest
project members, Tony Thomas, Karen Davis, and Lisa Smith. And
these are their titles. Tony Thomas is an intern, Karen Davis
is a staff manager, and Lisa Smith is a project director. So
we have to put semicolons in this list, because otherwise, it
seems like we're talking about five or six different people. So
the newest project members are Tony Thomas, intern. So we're
going to put the semicolon right after the N because Tony Thomas
is an intern. So Tony Thomas, intern, Karen Davis, staff
manager. So here we're going to put the semicolon right after
manager and Lisa Smith project director, and that has divided
this now into three different groups. Tony Thomas, intern
Karen Davis, staff manager, an Lisa Smith, project director. S
now it is clear to the reader that these are three differen
people and not five or si different people. And the las
one, again, we have conjunctive adverb here
However, I don't like eatin most desserts, semicolon.
However, I do love ice cream. Okay, so you did it. Let me know
in the comments section how man you got correct. The more yo
practice using semicolons, the easier it will become. I hope
that this video made sense to you and that now you have a
better understanding of how to use semicolons when you're
riting in English. Make sure to heck out my other videos in my
nglish writing essential eries. And if you haven't
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ideos on learning English, on improving your level of English
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become more confident in your abilities when you're writing in
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