Practice Exercises: Semicolons
Use a semicolon to:
- Join two complete sentences that are related
- Separate a list of items that already contain commas
Test Your Semicolon Skills!
Determine whether the sentences can be joined by a semicolon.
- I will not do my homework. You can't make me.
- I love semi-colons. In fact, I am using one right now.
- I like vanilla ice cream. My mom makes good spaghetti.
Determine whether a comma or a semicolon should be used.
- Before going to bed ( , or ; ) I always brush my teeth.
- My roommate made a cake ( , or ; ) it was terrible.
- I saw the thief speed away ( , or ; ) and I even got his license plate number.
- I like pretzels ( , or ; ) however, I love potato chips.
Separate the items in the list.
- We saw: Alligators
Baboons
Camels
Ducks - They visited: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Chicago, Illinois
Memphis, Tennessee
Dayton, Ohio