RULES FOR THE USE OF THE SEMI-COLON

508. The semi-colon is often used instead of the comma where a longer pause is desired or we wish to indicate a greater break in the thought. For example:

"The wind is chill;

But let it whistle as it will,

We'll keep our Christmas merry still."

509. As a rule we separate by semi-colons those parts of the sentences that are already punctuated by commas. For example:

510. The semi-colon is used to separate closely connected simple sentences when the conjunction is omitted. The continual repetition of the conjunction would become very tiresome and detract from the forcefulness of our sentences. So instead of continually repeating the conjunction we separate these simple sentences by semi-colons. For example:

Through the industrial revolution, the face of the earth is making over even as to its physical forms; political boundaries are wiped out and moved about as if they were indeed only lines on a paper map; population is hurriedly gathered into cities from the ends of the earth; habits of living are altered with startling abruptness; the search for the truths of nature is infinitely stimulated; and the application of these truths to life is made not only practicable, but commercially necessary.

511. The semi-colon should be used after each item in a series of specific statements. For example: