Do you know how to use a semicolon correctly? Even if you think you do, are you sure? That odd cross between a colon and a comma may be the most frequently misused and misunderstood punctuation mark ...

Editor's note: This segment was rebroadcast on Jan. 2, 2026. Click here for that audio. The semicolon has been described as a "graceful pause" in writing. But this graceful punctuation mark is being ...

April 27, 2022 Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google Colons and semicolons are the indie rock of punctuation marks. They’re not mainstream-popular like the period.

"Rend your cheeks and rub ashes into your hair," said The Spectator, for the semicolon, that "most elegant, elusive of punctuation marks", is all but dead. Use of the semicolon (in lists, or to join ...

Writers and editors don’t always agree; really, they don’t. There was a time, years ago, when I was an editor at the now defunct Times-Union that I made some changes — necessary, I’m sure — to a story ...

It's divisive; it cleaves; it drives some people crazy. The writer Kurt Vonnegut said of the semicolon: It's showy; it's chiefly used to show you've been to college. More than two-thirds of young ...

When you’re learning to type, the first lesson is the home-row position — the keys where your fingers rest: a s d f j k l ;. Learning this, you might naturally assume that the semicolon is pretty ...