(1) LINKING OF INDEPENDENT CLAUSES. The semicolon can be used to link two independent clauses. Examples:
- Athena is the goddess of wisdom; Aphrodite is the goddess of love.
- The god Odin has two ravens, Huginn and Munin; their names mean "Thought" and "Memory" in English.
When a conjunctive adverb connects two independent clauses in one sentence, it is preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma (list of conjunctive adverbs). Examples:
- Vishnu is famous his many avatars; for example, Rama and Krishna are both avatars of Vishnu.
- The lion is king of the beasts; nevertheless, he needed the help of a tiny mouse to escape from the hunter's net.
Comma versus semicolon. You cannot use a comma to join two independent clauses. If you try to do that, the result with be a type of run-on sentence known as a "comma splice."
ERROR: Demeter is the goddess of agriculture, Persephone is her daughter.
You can correct this error by using a semicolon instead of a colon:
CORRECTED: Demeter is the goddess of agriculture; Persephone is her daughter.
Another option is to break up the run-on sentence into two separate sentences:
CORRECTED: Demeter is the goddess of agriculture. Persephone is her daughter.
Independent clauses only. If the two clauses cannot stand on their own as independent statements, then you cannot use a semicolon to join them.
ERROR: Ravana had many wives; although Mandodari was his favorite.
You can correct this error by using a comma instead of a semicolon:
CORRECTED: Ravana had many wives, although Mandodari was his favorite.
(2) LISTING OF ITEMS THAT CONTAIN COMMAS. You need to use a semicolon to separate items in a list when one or more of the items in that contain a comma. Examples:
- Hercules battled many monsters: the Hydra, who had many heads; the Stymphalian birds, who were man-eaters; and Cerberus, the three-headed dog of hell.
- The animal avatars of Vishnu are Matsya, the fish; Kurma, the turtle; Varaha, the boar; and Narasimha, the man-lion.
Find out more about the semicolon here: SEMICOLON.
The god Odin has two ravens, Huginn and Munin;
their names mean "Thought" and "Memory" in English.
(image source)
their names mean "Thought" and "Memory" in English.
(image source)