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The semicolon; (or semi-colon [1]) is a symbol commonly used as orthographic punctuation. In the English language , a semicolon is most commonly used to link (in a single sentence) two independent clauses that are closely related in thought, such as when restating the preceding idea with a different expression.
Its use is consistent with other means of separating items in a list (for example, when semicolons are used to separate items, one is always included before the last item). [32] Common arguments against the consistent use of the serial comma are: The comma's omission is consistent with the conventional practice of the region. [33]
This list gives those most commonly encountered with Latin script. For a far more comprehensive list of symbols and signs, see List of Unicode characters . For other languages and symbol sets (especially in mathematics and science), see below .
As in the second of the two examples below, if a semicolon separates the two sentences and the second sentence starts with an adverb, this adverb is preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma. In this sentence, furthermore, commas would also be called for. This sentence is a bit different; however, a comma is necessary as well.
Punctuation in the English language helps the reader to understand a sentence through visual means other than just the letters of the alphabet. [1] English punctuation has two complementary aspects: phonological punctuation, linked to how the sentence can be read aloud, particularly to pausing; [2] and grammatical punctuation, linked to the structure of the sentence. [3]
In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point · , known as the ano teleia (άνω τελεία). In Georgian, three dots ჻ were formerly used as a sentence or paragraph divider. It is still sometimes used in calligraphy.
A leading semicolon;, in column 1 of a line, causes the line to be displayed as the name part of a description list. These lists contain a name, followed by one or more descriptions that apply to it (e.g. in a glossary). These descriptions are indicated by starting them with :.
Corner quotes, also called “Quine quotes”; for quasi-quotation, i.e. quoting specific context of unspecified (“variable”) expressions; [3] also used for denoting Gödel number; [4] for example “⌜G⌝” denotes the Gödel number of G. (Typographical note: although the quotes appears as a “pair” in unicode (231C and 231D), they ...