Semicolons and a Strapless Vera Wang

This whirlwind summary of Chelsea Clinton’s wedding shows a good use for semicolons: “The Wedding of the Year is over, and what have we learned? There was an interfaith ceremony; Bill lost the required weight, and then some; the cake was gluten-free.”

– Sally Law, “Personal Style,” The New Yorker, August 2, 2010

Semicolons are a polished way to connect two or more parts of a sentence that don’t have a clear logical connection. You use a colon instead of a semicolon when the connecting logic is obvious – e.g., “The wedding party was formidable … and so too was security: guests needed specially issued ID bracelets to board a bus to the ceremony.”

– Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger, “Chelsea Clinton, Marc Mezvinsky

wedding details,” The Washington Post, August 2, 2010

A semicolon would be right for the made-up sentence, “The bride wore Vera Wang; the guests wore specially issued ID bracelets.”

Check out our new, one-page PDF “Semicolons: A Write It Well Guide”! And for a thorough guide to punctuation in business writing, see our updated book Professional Writing Skills: A Write It Well Guide.

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