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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 ...
This rule varies for other punctuation marks; for example, American English follows the British English rule when it comes to semicolons, colons, question marks, and exclamation points. [ 19 ] [ further explanation needed ] The serial comma is used much more often in the United States than in the UK.
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.
Comma splices are similar to run-on sentences, which join two independent clauses without any punctuation or a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, for, etc. Sometimes the two types of sentences are treated differently based on the presence or absence of a comma, but most writers consider the comma splice a special type of run-on 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]
Examples of 'colon' and 'semi-colon' use follow: (1) He used only the best quality paints for his pictures: He'd saved for many years so he could fully indulge his passion, and purchase all the supplies he would ever need. (2) He used the following tools to paint his picture: . brush . paint . easel