Semicolon

;
;
Semicolon
	U+003B ; SEMICOLON (&semi;)

The semicolon ; (or semi-colon^[1]) is a symbol commonly used as orthographic punctuation. In the English language, a semicolon is most commonly used to link (in a single sentence) two independent clauses that are closely related in thought, such as when restating the preceding idea with a different expression. When a semicolon joins two or more ideas in one sentence, those ideas are then given equal rank.^[2] Semicolons can also be used in place of commas to separate items in a list, particularly when the elements of the list themselves have embedded commas.^[3]

The semicolon is one of the least understood of the standard marks, and is not frequently used by many English speakers.^[4]

In the QWERTY keyboard layout, the semicolon resides in the unshifted homerow beneath the little finger of the right hand and has become widely used in programming languages as a statement separator or terminator.^[5]

^ "Learning English". BBC World Service. bbc.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2015-03-23. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
^ "Using semicolons". The Writing Center. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-11-08. A semicolon is most commonly used to link (in a single sentence) two independent clauses that are closely related in thought. When a semicolon is used to join two or more ideas (parts) in a sentence, those ideas are then given equal position or rank.
^ "Learning English grammar: How to correctly use a semicolon". Scribendi.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
^ "For Love of the Semicolon – Insights to English". Language Illuminated. Insights to English. Archived from the original on 2020-11-10. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
^ Cite error: The named reference c-sharp-introduction was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1] "Learning English". BBC World Service. bbc.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2015-03-23. Retrieved 2014-05-08.

[2] "Using semicolons". The Writing Center. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-11-08. A semicolon is most commonly used to link (in a single sentence) two independent clauses that are closely related in thought. When a semicolon is used to join two or more ideas (parts) in a sentence, those ideas are then given equal position or rank.

[3] "Learning English grammar: How to correctly use a semicolon". Scribendi.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.

[4] "For Love of the Semicolon – Insights to English". Language Illuminated. Insights to English. Archived from the original on 2020-11-10. Retrieved 2020-11-09.

[c-sharp-introduction-5] Cite error: The named reference c-sharp-introduction was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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