Semicolons; no, not the winky face

Self-edits to improve your writing: Episode #6

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., one of my favorite writers of all time, had this to say about the most misunderstood punctuation mark: “Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”

Many other writers will disagree with Kurt. So it goes.

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

And yes, some of the word choices Vonnegut used many years ago were the accepted terms in science, medicine, and psychology back in his day and have since been replaced by updated language. Don’t take offense that language has changed over the years or that I didn’t edit Vonnegut. In any case, his point still stands.

The semicolon can be a pretty useful little fella, but it is often used incorrectly. It can be used properly but too often. Once in a while, it can serve a purpose another punctuation mark or word doesn’t do as well. The vast majority of the time, however, it can easily be replaced with something different.

As an editor, I see it used incorrectly more often than correctly. My advice is to just skip them. No one will ever miss them or finish a book and think, “I wish this author had used more semicolons.”

If you use more than one semicolon every few pages, you’re probably overdoing it.

So how do you use a semicolon properly?

Connecting separate but related statements

The most basic purpose is to connect two independent clauses to show a closer relationship between the two statements. An easy check to see if you’re using it correctly is to read your sentence using a period instead of a semicolon. Both sides of the sentence should be complete and stand alone. For example:

Fred is a very funny fellow. He wears silly hats to make people laugh.