Typography & fonts
A community to discuss and share information about typography and fonts
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(Icon: detail from the title of Bringhurst's Elements of Typographic Style. Banner: details from pages 6 and 12, ibid.)
What is a semicolon used for?
If it feels like you could use a comma or a period, you might want a semicolon; critically, both halves of the sentence should be able to stand as sentences on their own.
It's also sometimes used as a supercomma to delineate items in a list when the items include commas ("Edmonton, Alberta; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Vancouver, B.C.")
I learned its use as a supercomma while writing project reports for work. I've since adopt it for everyday posting when needed. Same with it's normal usage.
When I've got to use a semicolon for that I realize I should use a bulleted list because people won't understand what a semicolon means.
Terminates a SQL statement
It's being replaced with periods. Sometimes writers like shorter sentences.
To add a related clause; especially when it's not a complete sentence on its own.
That feels more like it calls for a comma; the "especially" transitions between the clauses. https://linguaholic.com/linguablog/comma-before-especially/
Yeah, I would usually use a comma there but I was trying to illustrate; it's a lot easier to tell when a semi-colon feels right than to contrive a sentence to deliberate it.