a semicolon is just a fancy period

Many people use semicolons incorrectly (or don't use them at all) because they have given up trying to understand them; it's really easy to use semicolons properly when you begin to think about them as fancy periods. You should only use a semicolon to separate two independent clauses; if you wouldn't put a period there, simply do not put a semicolon there.

Some people also use semicolons in complicated lists; however, it's an uncommon use and you shouldn't let yourself be confused by it. Adding semicolons to long documents is a great way to shake things up, but don't overuse them; a reader may quickly become fatigued if you pepper too many semicolons into your text.

I would not say using a semicolon in lists is uncommon. I work in insurance consulting and generally read or write a letter with such lists every other day. I imagine it's probably the same in other technical fields.

Oh that's interesting, I can see how you would use these lists in your field! I'm a chemist and I work closely with physicists and engineers - none of us use semicolons for lists; in fact, most of them don't use semicolons at all 😔

Also I've just realized that I use emojis in place of punctuation at the end of sentences, and I'm sure this will not be met with a positive reception.

Must depend on the culture. In anglonesia I often see the list form from STEM people: engineers; programmers; statisticians; and mathematicians. We could also discuss the Oxford Comma, its uses, and the challenge of misusing it.

This is correct. If you’re listing things that naturally have commas in them (for example, when you say a town then the state or something) then you need semi colons between them. It’s to keep it simple and not just see word comma word comma word comma and confuse people.

“I’ve been to Los Angeles, CA; Santa Fe, NM; and London, England.”

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I'm assuming you're referring to numbered or bulleted lists, in which case that is another use, yes. For lists in-line within the text, semi-colons would be overkill unless individual items in the list also include commas.

"I've lived in Topeka, Kansas; Washington, D.C.; and New York City."

I do this on a lot of business emails after looking up their proper use a few years ago. They only go between statements that are very related and, while separate sentences, rely on each other for context.

It makes you look kinda smart, I guess? Probably also make you look like a tool, but in office life, that's kind of a good thing. No one's ever commented on my semicolon, but I do get props for being good at writing emails.

Fancy grammar only makes you look smart if the person on the receiving end also knows how to use it correctly.

For example, I've been called out for saying "That issue was between that person and me" because people incorrectly tell me that it should be "that person and I."

It's hard to enforce correct grammar when a majority of the population is convinced that the incorrect way is correct, especially with linguistic drift in the mix :/

The reason "myself" is incorrect is because you can only use it when you are the subject of the sentence (i.e. the one doing the thing). For example "I bought coats for Steve and myself" see also "Steve bought coats for himself and me."

I had a journalism professor who gave a standard 20 minute lecture on the proper use of semicolons and doing a deep dive on the “complicated list” usages.

He ended by saying that a goal of good writing is clarity, and if we ever felt the need to use semicolons for complicated lists, then we should reconsider what we were trying to say, and rewrite our pieces to avoid needing to use them.

Lists that are series of lists, or that consist of longer phrases that need commas are sometimes a necessity to be clear. An example might be "For this assignment, I will provide the following to support my hypothesis and conclusion: a graph which clearly identifies existing data, generated data, and extrapolated predictions; a complete list of sources, cited chronologically; and a full report that describes in detail the supporting evidence for my argument, as well as some of the more highly controversial opposing views and evidence which disproves them."

Not going to argue with you, as your example is excellent.

However, the context of the lecture was regarding journalistic writing.

Additionally, I've gone on to have a solid career in graphic design and digital media, and paragraphs are not the only - or even most effective - way to organize information to be read and understood clearly.

Bullets/Bulleted Lists, for example, are typically better suited for quickly conveying lists (and lists of lists).

Of course, it all comes down to the constraints of your technology and the style preferences/limitations of the medium.

Back to academia, professors and researchers can be maddening regarding submission style as they seek to prepare students for research writing.

I hear you there, and thank you. I have often had bulleted lists that include semi-colons as well. It all gets so complicated, especially since I am a stickler for consistency. I would rather be wrong and consistently wrong that be all over the place. I could honestly live life completely without semi-colons.

I have OCD tendencies, and one way I have found to deal with them is when something bothers or confuses other people on how to use them, I tend to appreciate more and I am not as hard on myself with; which is why I probably enjoy semi-colons because they are rare and confusing to most people. I by no means have good grammar usually, I'm way better with numbers than words. I'll take data and numbers all day every day.

What a coincidence! I also use - - I've been told I use way too many commas and this is how I decided to beat the system, eventually replacing it ask my main comma and having to put the , back in consciously - to keep it from being repeated too many times.

As a result my sentences are atrociously long and I don't know how to explain my line shortly and concisely :(

I disagree. Semicolons typically should be used if the following sentence relates or expounds upon the prior. It’s more nuanced than a fancy period; for instance, it makes sense here.

It doesn’t make sense in some instances; semi colons are awesome. (<—- it would be more appropriate to say “...are STILL awesome,” because it laces the two clauses together more seamlessly).

-English B.A.

I've always used them to fix comma splices. Like the two clauses were so related that I didn't want to make them separate sentence and naturally wanted to make them one, so if I catch myself writing a comma there naturally, I just replace it with a semicolon and it almost always works

A semicolon is commonly used as a delimiter in lists where some items may have commas, aka a complex list:

The Council is comprised of ten members: three from Sydney, Australia; four from Auckland, New Zealand; two from Suva, Fiji; and one from Honiara, Solomon Islands.

I don’t think you really helped illustrate how to use them well by using them excessively and unnecessarily. A lot of them really should have just been periods, so it didn’t do anything to help differentiate for people when to use one vs. when to use a period.

In the last day or so I read, I think at reddit, of an author who wrote a novel without using punctuation. In a later revised edition he added 11 pages of punctuation for the reader to insert as desired.

I like semicolons best between two independent but complimentary clauses. The first presents an idea; the second seamlessly completes or answers the idea.

Here's another simple tip: use semicolons to replace conjunctions when you want to link two clauses more tightly.

I can't eat bananas, because I'm allergic to them.
I can't eat bananas; I'm allergic to them.

Sherman studied anatomy, and he really knew how to find a spleen.
Sherman studied anatomy; he really knew how to find a spleen.

The coyote prepared the dynamite, but it blew up in his face.
The coyote prepared the dynamite; it blew up in his face.

I like to think of it as a combo comma/period (like the symbol for it) because it works very similarly. If you ever think, "does a period or a comma work best," it's probably a semicolon! I LOVE semicolons; once you learn to use them, they make it much easier to write, IMO.

Semicolons in complicated lists, such as when the list is comprised of sub statements that contain commas, are extremely helpful. But yeah, they're uncommon to the point that I was docked points in school assignments for using them that way--being told that I made typos because "obviously" I meant to use commas in a list.