Question 1

When should I use a semicolon?

Accepted Answer

A semicolon does two jobs, and both are worth knowing because it does them better than the alternatives.

**Joining two closely related complete sentences.** Each side must be able to stand alone.

*The meeting ran late; nobody objected.*

A full stop would also be correct. The semicolon signals that the two thoughts belong together — a shorter pause than a full stop, a longer one than a comma. Using a comma here instead is the comma splice, one of the most common errors in English: *The meeting ran late, nobody objected* is wrong.

It is also the correct punctuation before conjunctive adverbs like *however*, *therefore*, *nevertheless* and *moreover* when they join two sentences: *The data was incomplete; however, the conclusion held.* A comma before *however* there would again be a splice.

**Separating items in a list that already contains commas.** This is the semicolon's most useful and least appreciated job.

*The panel included Ama Boateng, the chair; Ravi Menon, a statistician; and Julia Fisher, who wrote the report.*

With commas alone that list is unreadable. The semicolons make clear where each item begins and ends.

The most common misuse is putting a semicolon where a colon belongs. A colon introduces — a list, an explanation, an example. A semicolon separates things of equal weight. *You need three things: a pen, paper and time* takes a colon, not a semicolon.

If you are unsure, a full stop is almost always a safe substitute. An unnecessary semicolon is a minor stylistic choice; a comma splice is an error.

Question 2

Do commas and full stops go inside or outside quotation marks?

Accepted Answer

It depends which side of the Atlantic you are writing for, and this is one of the clearest differences between American and British style. American style puts commas and full stops inside the closing

Question 3

What is the Oxford comma and does it matter?

Accepted Answer

The Oxford comma — also called the serial comma — is the one placed before and in a list of three or more items: red, white, and blue, rather than red, white and blue. It matters because it sometimes

Question 4

Are sentence fragments ever acceptable?

Accepted Answer

Yes, when used deliberately. A fragment is a group of words punctuated as a sentence without a complete subject-verb structure, and the difference between a stylistic device and an error is whether

Question 5

What is a dangling modifier?

Accepted Answer

A modifier that is not attached to the thing it is supposed to describe, so the sentence appears to say something the writer did not mean. Walking to the station, the rain started. Grammatically,

Question 6

Is it wrong to split an infinitive?

Accepted Answer

No, and sometimes splitting it is the only way to say what you mean. To boldly go is not an error. An infinitive in English is two words — to go, to write — and splitting it means putting an adverb

Question 7

When should I use that instead of which?

Accepted Answer

Use that for clauses essential to the meaning of the sentence, and which — with a comma — for clauses that add extra information. The report that we published yesterday is online. — identifies which

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