CHAPTER 5 More About Punctuation^107
When the car stopped suddenly; my son was restrained by a seat belt.If the seller accepts our offer; we’ll be in our new house by June 1st.The answer to the question asked before the examples is that the fi rst half of each
sentence is introduced by a word (i.e., since, when, if) that makes the introductory
clause incomplete; it can’t stand alone, so the semicolon is incorrect. Insert commas
instead.
Since I’m late already, I won’t stop for coffee.When the car stopped suddenly, my son was restrained by a seat belt.If the seller accepts our offer, we’ll be in our new house by June 1st.Written Practice 5-1
Using the preceding information, decide whether each of the following sentences
is correctly punctuated. Insert semicolons where necessary.
- No one will ever forget those Olympics, so many records were shattered.
- My heart was set on the American winning, my dream was shattered.
- Although I was so disappointed that we had lost; I watched the award
ceremony anyway. - Kate accepted our earlier invitation to stay for the weekend a week later she
cancelled because of illness. - The purchase of Alaska in 1867 helped America take its fi rst steps to power
in the Asia-Pacifi c region meanwhile Russian efforts ceased to expand trade
and settlements on the Pacifi c coast of North America.
AVOIDING CONFUSION WITH SEMICOLONS AND COMMAS
Using a semicolon sounds easy enough; for variety, just join two complete thoughts
with a semicolon instead of a period. Or join two complete thoughts with a comma
plus a connecting word such as and,but,or. However, if you do this, there is the
potential for a problem. On occasion, two complete and related thoughts already
contain commas. What can you do to avoid confusion?