EXAMPLE.
“If such men will make a firm and solemn pause, and meditate dispassionately on its importance; if they will contemplate it in all its attributes, and trace it to all its consequences, they will not hesitate to part with trivial objections to a constitution, the rejection of which would, in all probability, put a final period to the Union.”—Hamilton.
REMARK.
Commas may be used instead of semicolons, when the clauses are short; as, “When public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions excited, nothing is valuable in speech farther than it is connected with high intellectual and moral endowments.”—Webster.
GENERAL REMARK.
When the members of a sentence seem to be loosely connected, they are frequently separated by semicolons.
EXAMPLES.
“Honest name is goodly; but he that hunteth only for that, is like him that hath rather seem warm than be warm.”—Sir Thomas Wyatt.
“Some blemishes may undoubtedly be detected in his character; but the more carefully it is examined, the more will it appear sound in the noble parts.”—Macaulay.