A Word from the Founder

Good day, and welcome. My name is Esther Hernandez. I taught English at a high school here in San Antonio from the autumn of 1940 until the spring of 1982; that is forty-two years, and by my own rough arithmetic some sixty thousand compositions. I marked every one of them in red pencil, and I am not ashamed to say that a good many of those marks concerned the semicolon.

In my retirement I have continued to read a great deal: the newspaper, the church bulletin, letters, and now the electronic mail that my grandchildren send me. It was the electronic mail that did it. One evening in the spring of 1997 I counted the semicolons in a month of my grandchildren's letters, and the total was none. I counted the semicolons on the signs between my house and the grocery store, and the total was four, of which three were wrong.

I telephoned my friend Ethel, who taught Latin across the hall from me for twenty-six years. She came over that afternoon, and so did Alvin, who set type for a newspaper before he retired. We sat at my kitchen table with a pot of coffee, and by suppertime we had a charter. My granddaughter Jennifer has kindly put it on the World Wide Web for us, where I am told it may be read by anyone at all. I find that a great comfort.

Let me say plainly that this is not a society of scolds. The semicolon is a modest mark; it does not ask to be used often. It asks only to be used well, and to be remembered.

The Charter
Adopted at the kitchen table, April 12, 1997

Article I. The name of this body shall be the Society for the Preservation of the Semicolon.

Article II. The purpose of the Society is to protect the semicolon from two dangers: neglect, by which it is forgotten; and misuse, by which it is put where it does not belong.

Article III. Any person who loves the written word may become a member. There are no dues; there is only the oath.

Article IV. Members shall correct one another gently, privately, and only when asked; the Society shall correct the general public never, except by example.

Article V. The Society shall meet whenever two or more members find themselves at the same table. Coffee is customary but not required.

The Oath

The last line was Alvin's idea. There had been an incident at a filling station in 1996.

The Two Duties of the Semicolon

The semicolon has two jobs, and only two. Learn them and you will never misuse it again.

The first duty: to join two complete sentences that belong together. Each half must be able to stand alone as a sentence, with its own subject and its own verb. The semicolon tells the reader that the two thoughts are closely related, more closely than a period would suggest.

The rain came at last; the whole town went out to stand in it.
Ethel brought the coffee; Alvin brought the doughnuts.

When the second sentence begins with a word such as however, therefore, nevertheless, or meanwhile, the semicolon goes before that word, and a comma usually follows it:

The meeting was called for two o'clock; however, nobody came before three.

Here is a test I gave my students for forty-two years. If you could put a period where the semicolon is and have two proper sentences, the semicolon may stay. If you could not, it must go.

The second duty: to separate the items in a list when the items already contain commas. In this work the semicolon acts as a stronger comma, so that the reader can see where one item ends and the next begins.

The Society now has members in San Antonio, Texas; Bangor, Maine; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Without the semicolons, that sentence would be a handful of cities and states thrown on the floor.

Common Slips, Gently Corrected

1. A semicolon to introduce a list.
We will need three things; flour, sugar, and eggs.
That is the colon's work. We will need three things: flour, sugar, and eggs.

2. A semicolon after a clause that cannot stand alone.
Because the bus was late; we missed the first hymn.
"Because the bus was late" is not a sentence; it fails the test. Use a comma. Because the bus was late, we missed the first hymn.

3. A semicolon and a joining word, both at once.
I baked a pie; and Herman ate it.
The word and is already doing the joining, so a comma is enough. I baked a pie, and Herman ate it. Or let the semicolon do the work alone: I baked a pie; Herman ate it. (Herman, a valued member, has asked me to note that it was an excellent pie.)

4. A semicolon in a greeting.
Dear Sir;
A business letter takes a colon after the greeting, and a friendly letter takes a comma. The semicolon has never been invited to either.

5. The wink.
My grandchildren close their electronic letters with a semicolon, a hyphen, and a closing parenthesis, which I am told is a face that is winking. That is not a semicolon; that is a wink. The Society takes no position on winking.

The Endangered Marks
A list kept by the Society, with some affection and a little amusement

Semicolon Sightings
Reported by members from signs, menus, and newspapers. Newest first.

"Rain at last; farmers smile."
A headline in a small daily newspaper, Oklahoma. Reported by Lois.
Correct, and rare. Headline writers are usually too hurried for us.

"Our tortillas are made by hand every morning; please allow a few extra minutes."
On a cafe menu, New Mexico. Reported by Phillip.
Correct. Phillip reports that the tortillas were worth the minutes.

"Open daily; including Sundays."
On a car wash, Texas. Reported by Mary, with regret.
Incorrect. "Including Sundays" cannot stand alone; a comma would do nicely. In keeping with the oath, no marker was used.

"Tomatoes are ripe; sweet corn next week."
Hand-lettered on a farm stand, Ohio. Reported by Virginia.
Correct in spirit. The second half borrows its verb from the first, which is permitted among friends and farmers.

"Come in out of the heat; the air conditioning is free."
On a church sign, Georgia. Reported by Elizabeth.
Correct, and hospitable. Elizabeth went in.

"FIREWORKS; PECANS; CLEAN RESTROOMS"
On a billboard beside the interstate, Missouri. Reported by Faye.
Incorrect, but enthusiastic. These are not sentences, nor a list that contains commas; they are simply three good reasons to stop. Faye stopped. She recommends the pecans.

"Thank you for thirty years, Chief; enjoy the fishing."
On the marquee of a savings and loan, Kansas. Reported by Betty.
Correct. The Society joins the savings and loan in its good wishes.

Have you seen one? Write to me with the words exactly as they appeared, where you saw them, and your first name and state.

The Membership Roll
In order of joining. Twenty-two members in sixteen states.

Esther, Texas (Founder); Ethel, Texas (Founder); Alvin, Texas (Founder); Mary, Texas; Virginia, Ohio; Herman, Pennsylvania; Beverly, Maine; Lois, Oklahoma; Elizabeth, Georgia; Jenny, Iowa; Maurice, Louisiana; Faye, Missouri; Phillip, New Mexico; Betty, Kansas; Joseph, Illinois; Katherine, Vermont; Billy, Tennessee; Amanda, Ohio; Andrew, Oregon; Lisa, Colorado; Jimmy, Texas; and Jennifer, Texas, who joined so that she could put us on the World Wide Web, and who has used a semicolon correctly in every letter since.

To join, write to me. Tell me your first name, your state, and your favorite sentence that contains a semicolon. You may borrow one from a favorite book if you must; I would much rather have one of your own.

Continue to A Short History of the Semicolon

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Correspondence to the Founder: [email protected]
Last updated Tuesday, September 21, 1999