Grammar Girl here, today's topic is semicolons.

I get questions about semicolons a lot, so it's time to clear up some confusion.

Semicolons separate things.

Most commonly they separate two main clauses that are closely related to each other, but

that could stand on their own as sentences if you wanted them to.

Here's an example.

It was below zero, semicolon, squiggly wondered if he would freeze to death.

The two parts of that long sentence that are separated by a semicolon could be sentences

on their own if you put a period between them.

It was below zero, period, squiggly wondered if he would freeze to death, period.

One reason you might choose to use a semicolon instead of a period is if you wanted to add

variety to your sentence structure.

For example, if you thought you had too many short choppy sentences in a row, but when

you use a semicolon, the main clauses should be closely related to each other.

You wouldn't write, it was below zero, semicolon, squiggly had pizza for dinner, because

those two main clauses have nothing to do with each other.

In fact, the other reason to use a semicolon instead of a period is if you want to draw

attention to the relationship between the two clauses.

People often ask me what the difference is between a semicolon and a colon, and there

are a couple of differences.

First, the purpose of a colon is to introduce or define something.

For example, you could write, squiggly checked the temperature, colon, it was minus 20 degrees.

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