Use Commas and Semicolons Effectively


Every writer at some point has probably asked themselves whether they should use a comma or a semi colon, as they are often seen as interchangeable. This is why the humble comma is abused, but both the semicolon and the comma provide different functions in your writing and shouldn’t be confused with one another. 
Commas are used to show a very short pause in sentences or to separate various objects in a sentence or several items in a list. Semi-colons, however, are used to separate two independent clauses that are closely related. They are also useful when listing ideas or phrases, just like commas do, which is why they may confuse writers.
Effective writing is all about using words and punctuation to your advantage to produce the right effect. Commas in the right place can do this, especially when you want to create that momentary pause; a split second hesitation, for instance:
Her expression folded, and with her eyes veiled, he could no longer read her.
He wondered about the path ahead, the way it undulated in the dark.
The sky darkened and shadowed his face, like a satanic cloud.
But, he realised, it would never be worth it.
These samples are not complicated, and don’t have to be, but they have the commas in the right places and create a deft little pause before the narrative continues. Without being correctly punctuated, they wouldn’t have the same effect.
Use commas to correctly show a list within the narrative – this negates the need to use ‘and’ repetitively, for instance:
Jane brought the backpack packed with water, a torch, batteries, map and a compass.
He noticed he could get there by walking, catching a bus, taxi or his car. 
Another common use of commas is known as the Oxford comma. This is another one that causes confusion with writers, but it’s not that complicated at all. It’s used after the penultimate item in a list and is placed before the conjunctions ‘and’ or ‘or’, however, it is not compulsory in grammar. It’s down to the personal style of each writer whether to use one, which is why you’ll see some writers use them and others don’t.
In the samples above I haven’t used an Oxford comma, but I could have done if I wanted to, for instance:
Jane brought the backpack packed with water, a torch, batteries, map, and a compass.
He noticed he could get there by walking, catching a bus, taxi, or his car. 
If you use commas correctly, your narrative will read that much smoothly. It’s the difference between effective writing and bad writing. Incorrectly placed commas can make the narrative stutter, and the reader will interpret pauses where there none.
One thing you shouldn’t do with commas is to splice them. Comma splices divide two independent clauses without using a conjunction or a full stop, for example:
Jane grabbed the torch, she would need it after dark.
To tidy the sentence, we can remove the comma and insert a full stop or we can insert a semicolon.  A placement of the full stop will create two independent clauses:
Jane grabbed the torch. She would need it after dark.
Here’s another comma splice example:
The daylight diminished, it would be dark soon.
In this next example, it needs a conjunction to separate the two independent clauses. This will make the sentence much clearer, for instance:
The daylight diminished and it would be dark soon.
The sentence is much better without the splice.  The comma has been removed and in its place the conjunction ‘and’ brings the two clauses together.
But what about semicolons?  What can they do?
They bring clarity to your narrative, just like commas do. The semicolon is also a pause, but it’s more prominent than a comma and it’s primarily used to separate two related sentences, for example:
David and Jane had always shared the same interests; their commonality made them inseparable.
Jane followed David’s advice and noticed the camp ahead; metres from the main road.
In these examples, the semicolon links the two related clauses and gives them equal position within the sentence. The use of a comma would have resulted in a comma splice.
They are also useful for lengthy, complex sentences which can’t be sustained by an inordinate amount of commas, unless you use full stops. But sometimes we need the odd lengthy sentence to vary the narrative, for example:
As he looked around the room, he realised she’d made a huge effort for him, as she always had done, and comforted by the muted candle glow, the romantic aura she’d created settled around him like a fine dust; not that romance interested Cole, no....he had only one thing on his mind.
This is a lengthy complex sentence, but it’s effectively punctuated with commas to highlight the slight pauses where they need to be, but also the semicolon is perfectly placed to nicely separate the clauses without making the narrative stutter. It’s good mixture of the two to make this sentence complex yet smooth. 
And that’s what effective use of commas and semicolons do. They help the reader glide over the narrative without stumbling over words or tripping over sentences. Pay close attention to the placement of commas and semicolons, and how they will change your narrative.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Makes a Story Dark?

If you’re a horror writer or you love to write dark, psychological stories and thrillers, or moralistic tales, this is the one question that needs an answer. Wanting a dark story and writing one are two different things, so how do you actually make a story dark? To answer that you first have to understand what is meant by ‘dark’. We usually define ‘dark’ as quantifiable elements that we know and are familiar with, but it’s more than that. Dark doesn’t necessarily mean scary or gory with a crazy psychopath going around chopping people into bits. Instead we have to think of ‘dark ‘as anything outside our accepted rose-tinted reality. Dark is the underbelly of our society; it’s the handling of ideas, themes, social issues and behaviours that would be seen as morally unacceptable. It’s less about fictional monsters but more about the real monsters that lurk in the shadows, something that is underscored by our fears and anxieties. It’s the unknown, because the things we don’t know
Read more

Chapter & Novel Lengths

Just how long should a chapter be? What’s the best length? And does a novel have to fit into a set amount of words? These are just two of the most common questions asked by writers.   They assume they have to work to a strict template of X amount of words and X amount of chapters, usually because most novels have around 30 or 40 chapters and around 80,000 words.   Novel Lengths Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths - novel lengths are dictated by the story itself, not the writer or the editor or a specific written formula.   Secondly, writers don’t have to fit their word count into generic set amounts.   Again, the story will dictate how long the novel will be. It’s also worth knowing the different types of novels that work well with different word counts.   Uncomplicated stories containing minimal characters tend to be short – usually around 20,000 to 60,000 words.   These are called novellas. Longer, more complex stories, which contain a handful of main characters and periphe
Read more

Cadence in Writing

Following on from last week’s article about purple prose, cadence – something many writers haven’t heard of – is something that writers aspire to but don’t always manage it, yet it’s the fundamental difference between poetic language and over-indulgent, flowery prose. Cadence in writing is a sense of rhythm and pace, it lifts the narrative from the page and makes it dynamic; brings a certain tempo to the words and sentences; it’s what makes prose poetic, layered and fluid without it being extravagant. Cadence makes the writing visual and evocative, and to an extent, beautiful . It’s an important element in fiction writing, because without it, narrative certainly won’t be as effective. Writers don’t actively think about cadence – they simply want to write and get the words down. It’s not until later, while editing, that they realise that a sense of rhythm might be missing from their narrative. When poetic description works, it’s called cadence. When it doesn’t work, people ref
Read more