A semicolon is a piece of punctuation that looks like a period stacked on top of a comma (;). A semicolon is not stop punctuation because it does not come at the end of a sentence. A semicolon is always found in the middle of a sentence. We place a semicolon between two complete thoughts that are related to each other.
Look at this example: It is raining; I’ll need an umbrella.
It is raining is a complete thought. It could be a sentence all by itself.
I’ll need an umbrella is also a complete thought and could also stand alone as a complete sentence.
But because the two thoughts are related, they can be combined into one sentence, separated by a semicolon.
Here are more examples:
I’m late; I’ll need to skip breakfast. These ideas are related; the second happens because of the first.
Gold is valuable; paper is worthless. These ideas are related because they are exact opposites.
This moment is a treasure; the memory is priceless. These ideas both refer to the same thing.
Use a semicolon in the middle of a sentence to join two related ideas together.
▶It’s your turn. Decide which of these two sentences should have a semicolon in it. Today is Saturday we have no school. I like to watch movies and eat popcorn. Did you put a semicolon between the two related ideas in the first sentence? Good for you!