Dad did everything he could to be a good father. He showed interest in everything my brother and I did. We joined the Boy Scouts; Dad joined the Boy Scouts. We became junior volunteer firemen; Dad became a junior volunteer fireman.

-David Rice, Give the Pig a Chance and Other Stories

Additional Example

Tonight, though, there seems to be a delay; I pick up from the chatter that something special is going on.

-Patricia McCormick, Cut

The semicolon

(links independent clauses that have similar ideas.)

Sentence; sentence.

Comments from Writers

“The semicolon is an ugly bastard, and thus I tend to avoid it. Its utility in patching together two closely related sentences is to be admired, but patches like that should be a make-do solution, to be used when nothing better comes to mind.”

-Bill Walsh, Lapsing Into a Comma

“Love child of the comma and period.”- Rozzakis

Common Errors!

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

-student paper

How to Fix #1

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle, her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

A comma isn’t strong enough to hold two sentences (independent clauses) together. You would need to add a FANBOY (coordinating conjunction) to make the comma work.

What are the FANBOYS??

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

The Fix #1

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle, her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

Becomes…

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle, and her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

How to Fix #2

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle, her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

Since this is made up of two complete sentences, you could simple separate them with a period.

The Fix #2

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle, her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

Becomes…

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle. Her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

How to Fix #3

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle, her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

Or, you could include a semicolon as long as you don’t OVERUSE them!

The Fix #3

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle, her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

Becomes…

Grandma still rides her Harley motorcycle; her toy poodle balances in a basket between the handlebars.

Try to Fix These!

Felicia balled up the napkin in her fist, she didn’t say anything.

I didn’t like the salty water, it was fun swimming in the waves.

FYI:(These errors are known as comma splices!)