In any kind of writing (especially prose), sentence flow is extremely important when it comes to keeping your audience engaged. Too many short, choppy sentences in a row leave the writing feeling too simplistic, while too many long, flowing sentences may leave the reader feeling bored or confused. It becomes necessary to vary the pace, to keep the reader on their toes. That’s where punctuation comes in.
Punctuation is the key to controlling how your audience reads the sentences you write. Periods are, of course, a full stop. Exclamation points and question marks have their uses as well, providing interesting shifts in tone when used appropriately. Commas connect thoughts or separate items in a list, although they can become… muddy.
With too many commas, your writing turns into the circuitous prose of an eccentric 18th-century novelist. However, not adding pauses to your work will make your writing seem stiff. So how do you break up your sentences to maintain the proper pacing?
COLON and SEMICOLON enter stage left.
Colons and semicolons often seem daunting at first, but both punctuation marks actually follow very simple rules. Used sparingly, they’re my favorite comma replacements; in fact, there are some cases in which one or the other must be used instead of a comma. (English grammar is tricky like that.) I’ve put together a simple primer on the uses of colons and semicolons here—soon, using them in your prose will be a breeze!
How to Use Colons
I think of colons like this: they introduce lists, and they introduce clarification.
Most people already know how to use colons to create a list. For example:
I only bought three things at the store: eggs, cream, and Nutella.
You can also use a colon if you’re going to list things in separate sentences—the first letter of the first item is simply capitalized instead.
I am going to do three things at the mall: First, I am going to get my hair done. Second, I'm going to see a movie. Third, I'm going to get some ice cream.
Beyond lists, colons can be used to separate independent clauses, or sentences that can stand on their own, when the second clause defines or clarifies the first. Observe:
I used to be hopelessly lost when it came to using colons in my writing: whenever I needed a pause, I only used em dashes.
In this example, I elaborate on the colon problem by talking about em dash usage. The colon works here because the second clause directly defines/clarifies the topic of the first clause—I tell you I couldn’t use colons, and then I show you just how hard I found using them to be.
Finally, colons are used for emphasis, similar to the way an em dash can be used to create a dramatic pause. To me, this is simply another form of clarification, but I’m listing it separately because it doesn’t always involve two independent clauses.
There is something even more important than money: political influence.
That’s it! See, colons aren’t so scary, are they? Just remember “lists” and “clarification,” and you’ll be golden.
How to Use Semicolons
Personally, I find semicolons to be even easier to use than colons (though that might just be because they’re my favorite punctuation mark). They run on the same basic principles—lists and related sentences—but there are some slight variations.
Semicolons are (generally) only used with a list when the items include commas. Unlike colons, they don’t introduce lists: they separate them. This helps avoid confusion and keeps writers from over-comma-ing their writing.
There were three people in the room: the tall, fat man; the short, freckled child; and the woman with a poodle in her handbag.
Like colons, semicolons are also used to separate two related, independent clauses. You can probably find a bunch of examples in my other blog posts, as I tend to use semicolons a lot, but here are a few random examples to get you started:
I prefer wheat toast; rye leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It was a cruel winter that season; the entire town huddled in their homes and prayed it would be milder next year. The Christmas tree came down with a crash, glass shattering and sliding across the floor; the cat had finally attacked, and there was nothing left to do but sweep up the tree's remains.
In some cases, a semicolon may be replaced with an em dash. However, DO NOT
DO NOT
DO NOT
DO NOT
replace a semicolon with a comma, especially when separating two independent clauses. That’s a comma splice. They look like this:
The dog rolled around in the grass, it was happy to be out in the sun. She forgot to buy peanut butter, I have to go to the store now.
These are grammar no-nos.
Beyond creating really awful tell-don’t-show sentences, comma splices are hard to read and mess with the flow of the work. Unless you’re using comma splices to create a particular tone or character voice (which, for the record, is valid—characters do not and should not speak in perfectly grammatically correct sentences all the time), add in a conjunction or change the comma to an em dash or semicolon instead.
Please, for the love of all that is holy when it comes to grammar, try not to make anyone read sentences like the two examples above. Especially me. Comma splices (that is, unintentional ones) hurt my eyeballs and my brain and my heart, a little.
A Word of Warning
I love colons. I love semicolons.
Not everyone does.
Using these punctuation marks too frequently (like me and my semicolons, for example) can cause problems with your writing—especially fiction, especially a first-person, deep point-of-view. I think in semicolons; not everyone does. In fact, I’d wager most people don’t.
If you’re going to use a colon or semicolon in your writing, be sure it makes sense not only with the flow of the prose, but with the details of the story itself. Your fourteen-year-old protagonist probably won’t be whipping out semicolons left and right. That said, if you want to use them, use them—just make sure to check whether or not they need to be there when you’re editing the story.
Do you have a favorite punctuation mark? Is there a different mark that always trips you up? Do you have a set process when it comes to editing your sentences to improve the overall flow of your work? Feel free to share in the comments below—I’d love to hear from you. And, as always, happy writing!
