Semicolons are somewhat ambiguous to people. They think that there is some secret to semicolons,

and they often question how to use them. Usually when a student attempts to use a semicolon,

they will read the essay out loud to themselves, and then whenever there's a long pause—not

a little one—a long pause, they will go ahead and pencil in a semicolon. This is not

how you use a semicolon. What most people don't understand about grammar is that it

is very predictable, almost mathematical in a way. Students often tell me that they don't

like English because it is so subjective to their professor. Well, you will love grammar,

because grammar is not subjective. So without further adieu, let me reveal the rule for

the semicolon. A semicolon is used to connect two complete sentences to each other. So on

the left, this man represents a complete sentence, and the lady on the right represents a complete

sentence. So let's write a sentence. The man waved—SEMICOLON—the woman ran away, PERIOD.

So the semicolon has successfully connected two complete sentences. This is a pretty simplistic

example, however, it really does illustrate what a semicolon does, which is connect two

complete sentences together. Now you won't be able to use a semicolon to stick together

two complete sentences if you don't know what a complete sentence really is. A complete

sentence is an independent clause. Both terms mean the same thing. So to have a complete

sentence or an independent clause, you need to things...first you need to have a VERB

and then you need to have a SUBJECT that pairs WITH THAT VERB. So you need a verb and subject

pair to have a complete sentence, or in other words, an independent clause. So let's go

back to our rather simplistic example of the man and the woman. The man waved; the woman

ran away. Let's look at the first half of the sentence. Let's identify if we have a

complete sentence. First we need to find the verb. WAVED is our verb. Now, who waved? The

man waved. Aha! We have a verb-subject pair, so we have an independent clause. Ran. Who

ran away? The woman. So, woman-ran, there's our verb subject pair—we have another independent

clause. That means we can successfully connect both sentences using a semicolon. Now I need

to point out that these are independent clauses because they stand alone. They are independent.

For example, let's look at the first half. The man waved. If I were to add ALTHOUGH at

the beginning: Although the man waved. . . [dot dot dot]—you see how that leaves the sentence

hanging? It doesn't stand-alone anymore? It would actually become a dependent clause.

So an independent clause has a verb-subject pair and it stands alone. Let's look at a

more complex example. Let's look at the first half. "Clearly this article was lacking in

the use of valid resources." All right, let's look at the second half. "It is inappropriate

for the authors to use biased individuals as their sole form of evidence." Now, while

there is a natural pause between the first half and the second half of the sentence,

I shouldn't jump right in and use a semicolon. Instead, I need to identify the verb-subject

pair in each of the halves of the sentences. So let's look at the first half: IS LACKING,

those are my verbs, and what is lacking? The article. OK guys it's as simple as that. If

we have a verb-subject pair and the sentence stands alone, it's an independent clause.

Let's look at the second half. IS—that's our verb—and what is? It. That's our subject.

Our verb subject pair is it is. That makes it another independent clause, so because

we have 2 independent clauses I can connect them and stick them together using a semicolon.

Let me have you try one on your own. "The author's poorly researched outside resources

dampen the argument, making the overall argument weak and unconvincing to readers." Look at

the first half of the sentence and identify the verb and subject pair. OK, the verb you

should have found is 'dampen'. And then you ask who or what dampens? 'Resources.' So this

section stands alone and it is an independent clause. Now let's look at the other half o

the sentence. Press pause so you can identify the verb-subject pair. So you should have

identified the verb as 'making'. Now who or what is making? Well, if you look around,

it doesn't really say. So this is actually not an independent clause. So in this case,

a semicolon cannot be used to connect both halves. In case you're wondering, when you

do not have a verb-subject pair, you actually have just a plain old phrase. And so in this

case, instead of a semicolon, go ahead and put a comma. So let's review. A semicolon

is used to connect two complete sentences together. Another word for a complete sentence

is an independent clause. And in order to have an independent clause, you need a verb

and subject pair. To find the verb, you just need to find a word that shows action or a

state of being. And then to find the subject, you say the verb and ask who or what. I hope

you enjoyed my flash lesson on semicolons. To see more videos about all things related

to college English, go to my YouTube page, Paola Brown English. Bye!