# English in Use/Other Common Punctuation Marks

## Semicolon

The semicolon is used to separate those parts of a compound sentence,
which are neither so closely connected as those which are distinguished
by the comma, nor so little dependent as those which require the colon.

### Complex members

When two or more **complex members**, or such clauses as require the
comma in themselves, are constructed into a period, they are generally
separated by the semicolon: as,

-   \"In the regions inhabited by angelic natures, unmingled felicity
    forever blooms; joy flows there with a perpetual and abundant
    stream, nor needs any mound to check its course.\"---Carter.
-   \"When the voice rises, the gesture naturally ascends; and when the
    voice makes the falling inflection, or lowers its pitch, the gesture
    follows it by a corresponding descent; and, in the level and
    monotonous pronunciation of the voice, the gesture seems to observe
    a similar limitation, by moving rather in the horizontal direction,
    without much varying its elevation.\"---Comstock\'s Elocution,
    p. 107.
-   \"The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me; but shadows,
    clouds, and darkness, rest upon it.\"---Addison.

### Simple members

When two or more simple members, or such clauses as **complete** their
sense without subdivision, are constructed into a period; if they
require a pause greater than that of the comma, they are usually
separated by the semicolon: as,

-   \"Straws swim on the surface; but pearls lie at the
    bottom.\"---Murray\'s Gram., p. 276.
-   \"Everything grows old; everything passes away; everything
    disappears.\"---Hiley\'s Gram., p. 115.
-   \"Alexander asked them the distance of the Persian capital; what
    forces the king of Persia could bring into the field; what the
    Persian government was; what was the character of the king; how he
    treated his enemies; what were the most direct ways into
    Persia.\"---Whelpley\'s Lectures, p. 175.
-   \"A longer care man\'s helpless kind demands; that longer care
    contracts more lasting bands.\"---Pope.

### Apposition

Words in apposition, in **disjunct pairs**, or in any other
construction, if they require a pause greater than that of the comma,
and less than that of the colon, may be separated by the semicolon: as,

-   \"Pronouns have three cases; the nominative, the possessive, and the
    objective.\"---Murray\'s Gram., p. 51.
-   \"Judge, judgement; lodge, lodgement; acknowledge,
    acknowledgement.\"---Butler\'s Gram., p. 11.
-   \"Do not the eyes discover humility, pride; cruelty, compassion;
    reflection, dissipation; kindness, resentment?\"---Sheridan\'s
    Elocution, p. 159.
-   \"This rule forbids parents to lie to children, and children to
    parents; instructors to pupils, and pupils to instructors; the old
    to the young, and the young to the old; attorneys to jurors, and
    jurors to attorneys; buyers to sellers, and sellers to
    buyers.\"---Wayland\'s Moral Science, p. 304.
-   \"Make, made; have, had; pay, paid; say, said; leave, left; dream,
    dreamt; mean, meant; reave and bereave have reft.\" ---Ward\'s Gr.,
    p. 66.

## Colon

The colon is used to separate those parts of a compound sentence, which
are neither so closely connected as those which are distinguished by the
semicolon, nor so little dependent as those which require the period.

### Additional remarks

When the preceding clause is complete in itself, but is followed by some
additional remark or **illustration**, especially if no conjunction is
used, the colon is generally and properly inserted: as,

-   \"Avoid evil doers: in such society, an honest man may become
    ashamed of himself.\"
-   \"See that moth fluttering incessantly round the candle: man of
    pleasure, behold your image!\"---Art of Thinking, p. 94.
-   \"Some things we can, and others we cannot do: we can walk, but we
    cannot fly.\"---Beanie\'s Moral Science, p. 112.
-   \"Remember heaven has an avenging rod: to smite the poor, is treason
    against God.\"---Cowper.

### Greater pauses

When the semicolon has been introduced, or when it must be used in a
subsequent member, and a still greater pause is required within the
period, the colon should be employed: as,

-   \"Princes have courtiers, and merchants have partners; the
    voluptuous have companions, and the wicked have accomplices: none
    but the virtuous can have friends.\"
-   \"Unless the truth of our religion be granted, a christian must be
    the greatest monster in nature: he must at the same time be
    eminently wise, and notoriously foolish; a wise man in his practice,
    and a fool in his belief: his reasoning powers must be deranged by a
    constant delirium, while his conduct never swerves from the path of
    propriety.\"---Principles of Eloquence, p. 80
-   \"A decent competence we fully taste; it strikes our sense, and
    gives a constant feast: more we perceive by dint of thought alone;
    the rich must labour to possess their own.\"---Young.

### Independent quotations

A quotation introduced without a close dependence on a verb or a
conjunction, is generally preceded by the colon: as,

-   \"In his last moments, he uttered these words: \'I fall a sacrifice
    to sloth and luxury.\'\"
-   \"At this the king hastily retorted: \'No put-offs, my lord; answer
    me presently.\'\"---Churchill\'s Gram., p. 367.
-   \"The father addressed himself to them to this effect: \'O my sons,
    behold the power of unity!\'\"--- Rippingham\'s Art of Speaking,
    p. 85.

## Dash

The dash is mostly used to denote an unexpected or emphatic pause, of
variable length; but sometimes it is a sign of faltering, or of the
irregular stops of one who hesitates in speaking: as,

-   \"Then, after many pauses, and inarticulate sounds, he said: \'He
    was very sorry for it, was extremely concerned it should happen
    so---but---a---it was necessary---a---\' Here lord E--- stopped him
    short, and bluntly demanded, if his post were destined for
    another.\"---Churchill\'s Gram., p. 170.

### Abrupt pauses

A sudden interruption, break, or transition, should be marked with the
dash: as,

-   \"\'I must inquire into the affair; and if\'---\'And if!\'
    interrupted the farmer.\"
-   \"Whom I---But first it is fit the billows to restrain.\"---Dryd.
    Virg. 3.
-   \"Here lies the great---False marble! where? Nothing but sordid dust
    lies here.\"---Young.

### Emphatic pauses

To mark a considerable pause, greater than the structure or the sentence
or the points inserted would seem to require, the dash may be employed:
as,

-   \"I pause for a reply.---None?---Then none have I offended.---I have
    done no more to Caesar, than you should do to
    Brutus.\"---Shakspeare: Enfields Speaker, p. 182.
-   \"Tarry a little. There is something else.---This bond---doesn\'t
    give you here---no jot of blood.\" ---ID.: Burgh\'s Sp., p. 167.
-   \"It thunders;---but it thunders to preserve.\"---Young.
-   \"Behold the picture!---Is it like?---Like whom?\"---Cowper.

### Faulty dashes

Dashes needlessly inserted, or substituted for other stops more
definite, are in general to be treated as errors in punctuation: as,

-   \"Here Greece stands by itself as opposed to the other nations of
    antiquity---She was none of the other nations---She was more
    polished than they.\"---Lennie\'s Gram., p. 78.
-   \"Here Greece stands by herself, as opposed to the other nations of
    antiquity. She was none of the other nations: she was more polished
    than they.\"---Bullions, E. Gram., p. 114.

If this colon is sufficient, the capital after it is needless: a period
would, perhaps, be better.

## Curves

The curves, or marks of parenthesis, are used to distinguish a clause or
hint that is hastily thrown in between the parts of a sentence to which
it does not properly belong: as,

-   \"Their enemies (and enemies they will always have) would have a
    handle for exposing their measures.\"---Walpole.
-   \"To others do (the law is not severe) what to yourself you wish to
    be done.\"---Beattie.

The incidental clause should be uttered in a lower tone, and faster than
the principal sentence. It always requires a pause as great as that of a
comma, or greater.

### Parenthesis

A clause that breaks the unity of a sentence or passage too much to be
incorporated with it, and only such, should be inclosed within curves,
as a parenthesis: as,

-   \"For I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good
    thing.\"---Rom., vii, 18.
-   \"Know then this truth, (enough for man to know,) virtue alone is
    happiness below.\"---Pope.

### Included points

The curves do not supersede other stops; and, as the parenthesis
terminates with a pause equal to that which precedes it, the same point
should be included, except when the sentences differ in form: as,

-   \"Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as to my children,) be
    you also enlarged.\"---2 Cor., vi, 13.
-   \"Man\'s thirst of happiness declares it is: (for nature never
    gravitates to nought:) that thirst unquenched, declares it is not
    here.\"---Young.
-   \"Night visions may befriend: (as sung above:) our waking dreams are
    fatal. How I dreamt of things impossible! (could sleep do more?) of
    joys perpetual in perpetual change!\"---Young.

## Hyphen

The hyphen connects the parts of many compound words, especially such as
have two accents: as, ever-living. It is also frequently inserted where
a word is divided into syllables: as, con-tem-plate. Placed at the end
of a line, it shows that one or more syllables of a word are can led
forward to the next line.

## References

-   A part of the text in this article, was taken from the public domain
    English grammar \"The Grammar of English
    Grammars\" by Goold Brown,
    1851.


