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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.
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]
The colon:, is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots aligned vertically. A colon often precedes an explanation, a list, [1] or a quoted sentence. [2] It is also used between hours and minutes in time, [1] between certain elements in medical journal citations, [3] between chapter and verse in Bible citations, [4] and, in the US, for salutations in business letters and other ...
In the Indian subcontinent, :- is sometimes used in place of colon or after a subheading. Its origin is unclear, but could be a remnant of the British Raj. Another punctuation common in the Indian Subcontinent for writing monetary amounts is the use of /- or /= after the number. For example, Rs. 20/- or Rs. 20/= implies 20 whole rupees.
The bulleted list can be indented further by prepending other asterisks colon ** or two *** or three **** (etc.), for more indentation, each of which creates a new unordered list. Template:Indent and similar templates offer an accessible-friendly means of creating visual indentations without changing the bullet appearance.
Sentence spacing concerns how spaces are inserted between sentences in typeset text and is a matter of typographical convention. [1] Since the introduction of movable-type printing in Europe, various sentence spacing conventions have been used in languages with a Latin alphabet. [2]
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White advises using a semicolon, not a comma, to join two grammatically complete clauses, or writing the clauses as separate sentences. The Elements of Style notes an exception to the semicolon rule, preferring a comma when the clauses are "very short and alike in form," or when the sentence ...
If the individual items of a list are long, complex, affixed with description, or themselves contain commas, semicolons may be preferred as separators, and the list may be introduced with a colon. In news headlines, a comma might replace the word "and", even if there are only two items, in order to save space, as in this headline from Reuters: [11]