Pimp my English | Commas and semicolons

By Anna Malczyk

Here’s a quick-and-dirty rundown of everything you ever wanted to know about commas and semicolons!

The most important thing to learn first is the concept of an “independent clause”. Independent clauses are, very simply, complete sentences that can stand on their own. The opposite, dependent clauses, are those clauses that don’t form full sentences and have to be attached to an independent clause to exist. They are also often called subordinate clauses. Sometimes, two independent clauses can be linked together with conjunctions like “and” and “but” to make a longer sentence. For example:

• I went to the park and it started raining.

Here we have two independent clauses linked with “and”. How can you tell? Just try separating them and see if you get two complete sentences: “I went to the park. It started raining.”

• Even though I never met my cousin, I went to his wedding.

Here we have a dependent clause, “Even though I never met my cousin”. This is not a full sentence, and needs to be attached to one to make sense.

Why does all this matter?
Commas and semicolons can be used to separate two independent clauses. Commas can be used to separate independent and dependent clauses.

Commas
1. Use a comma when you want to separate two independent clauses that are joined with these conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.

• She was a great dancer, and she won many awards.
• He was always late, but he knew how to dress well.
• She tried to find my house, yet she always got lost.

2. Commas are also used to join a dependent clause to an independent clause.

• Because of the public holiday, we went to the beach.
• Since we’re all here, let’s play some board games.

Semicolons
1. Use a semicolon when two independent clauses are joined without any conjunctions.

• The dog wasn’t ours; we cared for him when his owners were away.
• This is a silly argument; let’s not fight any more.
• I tried my hand at baking bread; it turned out great!

2. Semicolons are also used when the independent clauses are joined with these words: however, moreover, therefore, consequently, otherwise, nevertheless, thus.

• We were convinced that he had lost his keys; however, they turned up in his pocket.
• The weather was turning miserable; nevertheless, we carried on with our hike.
  

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