Grammar Police: However and Semicolons

By far, one of my biggest pet peeves is a writer who doesn’t understand how to use a semicolon correct. Or, rather, the writer fails to use a semicolon. Most commonly, this is in conjunction with the word however.

Grammar Police: We're fixin' your semicolons and stomping out your "howevers." Image: sxc.hu

I think that most people know that a semicolon can be used in place of a period when the two sentences are highly related. For example:

I work as a freelance writer; most of my work is done from home.

Overusing semicolons doesn’t make you sound smart. My 7th grade English teacher told me that semicolons are like jalapeno peppers. One makes a dish tasty, two make a dish more than most people can stand, and three ruin a dish completely.

The confusion I see with semicolons usually stems from words like however, therefore, and indeed. These words are more formally known as conjunctive adverbs when used to connect two clauses. Here’s how I see however used incorrectly all the time:

Many people love writing, however, they don’t always know grammar rules.

It can be confusing, since this is correct:

Many writers, however, don’t know grammar rules.

See the difference? In the first sentence, however is used between two clauses that could stand alone as sentences. You could write, “Many people love writing. However, they don’t always know grammar rules.” You can’t do that in the second sentence. In this case, the however breaks up a single sentence, probably relating it to whatever sentence came before.

In other words, the first sentence should use a semicolon like this:

Many people love writing; however, they don’t always know grammar rules.

A good rule of thumb? Whenever you use a comma with a conjunctive adverb, ask yourself if you could use a period and make two sentences. If the answer is yes, you should be using a semicolon instead!

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