It may seem like the semicolon is struggling with an identity crisis. It looks like a comma crossed with a period. Maybe that's why we toss these punctuation marks around like grammatical confetti. We're confused about how to use them properly. In fact, it's the semicolon's half-half status that makes it useful. It's stronger than a comma, and less final than a period. It fills the spaces in between, and for that reason, it has some specific and important tasks. For one, it can clarify ideas in a sentence that's already festooned with commas. "Semicolons: At first, they may seem frightening, then, they become enlightening, finally, you'll find yourself falling for these delightful punctuation marks." Even though the commas separate different parts of the sentence, it's easy to lose track of what belongs where. But then the semicolon edges in to the rescue. In list-like sentences, it can exert more force than commas do, cutting sentences into compartments and grouping items that belong together. The semicolon breaks things up, but it also builds connections. Another of its tasks is to link together independent clauses. These are sentences that can stand on their own, but when connected by semicolons, look and sound better because they're related in some way. "Semicolons were once a great mystery to me. I had no idea where to put them." Technically, there's nothing wrong with that. These two sentences can stand alone. But imagine they appeared in a long list of other sentences, all of the same length, each separated by periods. Things would get monotonous very fast. In that situation, semicolons bring fluidity and variation to writing by connecting related clauses. But as beneficial as they are, semicolons don't belong just anywhere. There are two main rules that govern their use. Firstly, unless they're being used in lists, semicolons should only connect clauses that are related in some way. You wouldn't use one here, for instance: "Semicolons were once a great mystery to me; I'd really like a sandwich." Periods work best here because these are two totally different ideas. A semicolon's job is to reunite two independent clauses that will benefit from one another's company because they refer to the same thing. Secondly, you'll almost never find a semicolon willingly stationed before coordinating conjunctions: the words, "and," "but," "for," "nor," "or," "so," and "yet." That's a comma's place, in fact. But a semicolon can replace a conjunction to shorten a sentence or to give it some variety. Ultimately, this underappreciated punctuation mark can give writing clarity, force, and style, all encompassed in one tiny dot and squiggle that's just waiting to be put in the right place.
Možda se čini kao da tačka i zapeta pate od krize identiteta. To je ipak zapeta ukrštena sa tačkom. Možda zato ovaj znak interpunkcije razbacujemo okolo kao gramatičke konfete. Ne znamo kako da ga pravilno koristimo. Zapravo je taj status pola/pola ono što tačku i zapetu čini korisnom. Ovaj znak je jači od zapete, a manje finalan od tačke. On popunjava prostor između, i iz tog razloga ima neke specifične i važne zadatke. Kao prvo, može da pojasni ideje u rečenici koja je već pretrpana zapetama. "Tačka i zapeta: isprva, možda se čine zastrašujućim, onda postaju prosvetljujuće, konačno, shvatićete da se zaljubljujete u ovaj očaravajući znak interpunkcije." Iako zapete odvajaju različite delove rečenice, lako je izgubiti trag tome gde šta pripada. Ali tu u spas dolaze tačka i zapeta. U rečenicama nalik na spisak, mogu da ispolje više sile od zapeta i preseku rečenice na podeljke i grupišu stvari koje idu zajedno. Tačka i zapeta razdvajaju stvari, ali i grade veze. Takođe povezuju i nezavisne rečenice. Ovo su rečenice koje mogu da stoje odvojeno, ali kada su povezane tačkom i zapetom, one izgledaju i zvuče bolje jer su povezane na neki način. "Tačka i zapeta su mi jednom bile velika misterija. Nisam imao pojma gde da ih stavim." Tehnički, ovde ništa nije pogrešno. Ove dve rečenice mogu da stoje zasebno. Ali zamislite da se pojavljuju u dugom nizu drugih rečenica, koje su sve iste dužine i svaka od njih je odvojena tačkom. Stvari bi veoma brzo postale monotone. U toj situaciji, tačka i zapeta u pisanje unose fluidnost i varijaciju kroz spajanje povezanih rečenica. Ali uprkos svojoj korisnosti, tačka i zapeta ne treba da stoje bilo gde. Postoje dva glavna pravila za njihovu upotrebu. Prvo, ukoliko se ne koriste u nekom spisku, tačka i zapeta treba samo da spajaju rečenice koje su povezane na neki način. Na primer, nećete ih koristiti ovde: "Tačka i zapeta su mi jednom bile velika misterija; Baš bi mi prijao sendvič." Ovde je najbolja tačka zato što su ovo dve potpuno različite ideje. Posao tačke i zapete je da ponovo spoji dve nezavisne rečenice kojima će međusobno druženje prijati jer se odnose na istu stvar. Drugo, nećete skoro nikada pronaći tačku i zapetu smisleno postavljene pre naporednih veznika, reči: "i", "ali", "već", "ni", "niti", "a", "ali" i "nego". To je zapravo dužnost zapete. Ali tačka i zapeta mogu da zamene veznik kako bi skratile rečenice ili pružile malo raznovrsnosti. Na kraju, ovaj potcenjeni znak interpunkcije pisanju može pružiti jasnoću, silinu i stil, zaokružene u tačkicu i crticu koje samo čekaju da ih stavite na pravo mesto.