1. How to use semi colons
The semi colon looks like this ;
It can be used in a number of ways
– all of which can help improve your
sentence structure and raise your
mark

2. This is the easier way of using semi colons -
to separate long items in a list – in other
words: items made up of several words
When the police searched Paula’s room
they were surprised by what they found:
a pristine collection of Superman comics
from 1955; a flick-knife once owned by
James Dean; a detailed map of the
Moscow underground system.

3. • Of course, shorter items in a list are separated
by commas.
• However, semi colons are used to separate
longer items for the sake of clarity – so you can
differentiate between the individual items.
• Sometimes, those items have commas in them.
• For example: The drawers held many secrets:
her grandmothers diary, still holding faded
pressed flowers; an album of photographs
dating back to the childhood holidays that she
had spent in Paris with her mother, father and
brother; a collection of theatre programmes
dating from November 1963 to June 1968.

4. This is the trickier use of the semi
colon - to separate two related
parts of a sentence
• The dark house seemed to beckon them
in; it was as if they were being hypnotised
and couldn’t resist.
If you think about it, the sentence almost takes a
different direction when the semi colon is used. You’d
not be wrong to use a full stop (or in certain cases, a
connective), but the semi colon allows you to vary your
sentence structure and impress the examiners.

5. Here are another couple of
examples
• Lewis stood up and praised the virtues of
the humble pasty; however, he was also
fond of Gregg’s sausage rolls, known to
his friends as Sunderland dummies.
• Anna sat on her bed and thought over
what had happened; after a day like this,
she wished she had someone sympathetic
to talk to instead of her bitch of a sister.

6. Place semi colons correctly in the following sentences
• She stood up and addressed the jury: “If you recall,
Ms Thompson said it was dark when she looked out
of the window however, she seems to have
forgotten that the clocks changed on Saturday…”
• Edging my way into the cave, I was struck by the
powerful odour of pickled almonds smothering the
stench of the rotting seaweed still clinging onto the
rocks it reminded me of the hospital ward in which I
had spent hours of my childhood while my father
was recovering from his motorbike accident.
• When I grow up, I want to be the man with the plan
the guy who wears the white hat the enigmatic
stranger the one who steals your heart the hero
respected by everyone I meet. Of course, I also
want to be rich!

7. Answers…
• She stood up and addressed the jury: “If you recall,
Ms Thompson said it was dark when she looked out
of the window; however, she seems to have
forgotten that the clocks changed on Saturday…”
• Edging my way into the cave, I was struck by the
powerful odour of pickled almonds smothering the
stench of the rotting seaweed still clinging onto the
rocks; it reminded me of the hospital ward in which I
had spent hours of my childhood while my father
was recovering from his motorbike accident.
• When I grow up, I want to be the man with the plan;
the guy who wears the white hat; the enigmatic
stranger; the one who steals your heart; the hero
respected by everyone he meets. Of course, I also
want to be rich!