Lesson video

I'm Mr. Berkeley, and it's so lovely to see you for today's lesson on semi-colons.

Now, this is an exciting lesson because it's not often we get to learn a completely new piece of punctuation, which today, is the semi-colon.

I think you're gonna find it really helpful for your writing, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Let's make a start.

Today's lesson is called Semi-colons: First Function from our unit called Punctuation.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to use a semi-colon to join two closely-related main clauses.

Now, semi-colons are really useful pieces of punctuation, and I'm sure after this session, you'll start studying them everywhere in things that you read because they're so widely used and helpful in our writing.

And they're helpful because they help improve the flow of our writing by allowing us to join together ideas more closely.

And I think you're going to find them really useful.

Let's make a start.

Here's our key vocabulary for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Semi-colon, main clause, and text cohesion.

Well done.

Now, a semi-colon is a piece of punctuation that can join two closely-related main clauses.

As I'm sure you know, a main clause is a group of words that contains a verb and makes complete sense on its own.

Text cohesion is how a text flows together to maintain the interest of the reader and achieve the purpose of the text.

Here's our lesson outline for today.

We're gonna start off by adding semi-colons into sentences to show boundaries between clauses, and then we'll move on to writing our own sentences with semi-colons.

So, as I'm sure you're aware, main clauses are groups of words that contain verbs and could be complete sentences on their own.

For example, "Last night, there was a terrible storm." And "Many buildings were struck by lightning." Both of these could be a sentence on their own.

And we can see that here, we've added a capital letter, and a full stop, and they make complete sense.

And we can join these together into a paragraph where the sentences are separated by full stops.

It would look like this.

We've joined them together.

And here, we've taken two closely-related main clauses and made them into two simple sentences that are separated by full stops.

But these ideas are linked, aren't they? "Last night, there was a terrible storm," links to the idea that many buildings were struck by lightning.

They are closely-related, but we've separated them with a full stop here.

But sometimes we might want to reduce that separation between these closely-related main clauses, these closely-related ideas.

And to do that, we can use a semi-colon, which looks like this.

So we can write it like this.

"Last night, there was a terrible storm; many buildings were struck by lightning." And what we've got now is two main clauses connected together using that semi-colon as a way of linking them more closely.

And there's just one space after the semi-colon there.

And we can see here, the first main clause, then the semi-colon, and then the second main clause.

So notice how we've now just got one sentence instead of two, with one full stop at the end there after lightning.

There's no capital letter after that semi-colon unless there's a proper noun.

So this is now two sentences made into one by joining them with that semi-colon.

And we can do it because they're closely-related.

They're about the same topic.

They're both about this storm.

So each of these are true for semi-colons.

Pause the video and see if you can decide.

Well done.

You're absolutely right.

First one is B.

Yes, they joined two main close clauses more closely together.

And C is also true.

They combine two main clauses into one sentence.

So instead of having two sentences separately, we've made them into one sentence joined with that semi-colon.

Great job.

So here are some more examples of a semi-colon being used to link together two closely-related main clauses.

I could have this main clause, "The competition was very tough." And this one, "We didn't win a single match." They're closely-related.

The reason we didn't win a single match is because the competition was very tough.

So we could join them together.

We could say, "The competition was very tough; we didn't win a single match." Here's another idea.

"We visited Parliament in July," is a main clause.

And so is, "It was an incredible day out." They're closely-related.

We can join them together with that semi-colon.

"We visited Parliament in July; it was an incredible day out." So both these times we could have made these into two separate sentences, but we've joined them using the semi-colon instead, which makes them flow together more easily and increases that text cohesion.

So as I've just said, use the semi-colons instead of creating separate sentences is a way of increasing our text cohesion.

For example, here are two separate sentences.

"Mr. Martinez is a language expert," full stop.

"He speaks Spanish and French." Instead, I could join those with a semi-colon because they are closely-related.

It's an explanation, isn't it, for why he's a language expert.

The reason is that he speaks two languages.

Here's another example.

We've got two separate sentences.

"On Monday, the temperature is very high," full stop.

"It reached forty degrees." I could join those with a semi-colon, and I've made them more cohesive.

They flow together more now.

So the main clauses are now more closely linked because they're part of one sentence instead of two.

And we do this only when they're closely-related in their meaning.

They're about the same topic.

So here are two separate sentences.

"I really appreciate what you've done," full stop.

"You've helped me so much." Which version below joins these two sentences correctly with a semi-colon? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

You're right, it is C.

Notice how here, we've kept a small letter, a lowercase letter after the semi-colon, no capital there because we don't have a proper noun.

And we've got it in the correct position.

We've got the two sentences joined with that semi-colon together.

A is wrong because of the capital letter.

And B, we've missed out the semi-colon altogether.

We can't do that.

We can't just shove two sentences together.

We must join them with the semi-colon like we see in C.

Really good job if you spotted that one.

Let's do another one.

Let's see if you can match each main clause, to the one which is most closely-related to it, to create a sentence joined with the semi-colon.

Pause the video and see if you can match these up.

Well done.

Hopefully you spotted that A would be, "The match was very rough; Aisha injured her shoulder." B would say, "That day, the yacht struggled to leave the harbour; there were very strong currents at the entrance." And for C, "I really recommend this restaurant; it has a fantastic selection of dishes." Now, it's really important that we've matched those up because remember, we have to have two closely-related ideas if you want to join them with our semi-colon.

So, really well done for getting that.

So, we often use punctuation to show the boundaries between clauses.

Here are some examples which aren't semi-colons.

For instance, we've got a colon here.

"We were growing hungry: we have not packed sufficient food." And we've got a colon to show the boundary between those two main clauses.

Here's an example with commas.

I could say, "The bruise, which was very painful, was turning purple." Here, we've got a main clause, the bruise was turning purple.

And then commas to show the boundaries of a relative clause that has been embedded, interrupting that main clause.

So the punctuation is showing us where these different clauses begin and end.

And we can do the same thing with semi-colons.

They also help to show the boundaries of clauses.

So here's an example with a semi-colon.

"Andeep was in a mischievous mood; he chuckled as he prepared the prank." So here, I've got a semi-colon showing the boundary between what could be two complete sentences, each with at least one main clause of its own.

This could be a a complete sentence, and this could be a complete sentence.

And we've joined them with the semi-colon, so we marked that boundary between them using the semi-colon.

So we can tell where a semi-colon should be placed in a sentence by looking for the parts of a sentence that could be complete sentences like we see in that first example.

So here's an example, which should have a semi-colon in it.

Where should it be? We've written, "As we listened, we couldn't help dancing the rhythm was intoxicating." I can see that this could be a complete sentence on its own.

"As we listened, we couldn't help dancing." And so could this.

So we're going to put the semi-colon where the boundary is, between what could be two complete sentences.

And that would look like this.

"As we listened, we couldn't help dancing; the rhythm was intoxicating." So, where could a semi-colon be placed in each of these sentences to show the boundary between two complete sentences? Pause the video and have a careful think.

Well done.

Great effort.

So in A, we would put it after form.

"Here's my application form;" and we can see the part after that is also a complete sentence.

In B, we would put it after neighbours.

"When you arrive, we'll visit the neighbours; they have a new puppy you'll just love." Both of those are complete sentences.

We have joined them together with our semi-colon.

In C, we put it after shuddered.

We've got two complete sentences.

"Tiptoeing through the cemetery, I shuddered; my heart was racing in my chest and my breathing was rapid." We've joined them with the semi-colon.

Great job for popping those in the right places.

Well done.

So we've said that the words on either side of the semi-colon must be capable of being in a complete sentence, which means it must contain at least one main clause.

So I've got three examples here.

Let's see which of these does that correctly.

In the first one, we've got before the semi-colon, this, which is a complete sentence.

"When I bought the bed, I got the mattress for free." But after the semi-colon we have this, "Which was a bargain." Now, that could not be a complete sentence on its own.

It's a type of subordinate clause, not a main clause.

So we can't use the semi-colon to join these two together because one of them is not a complete sentence.

What about the second one? "When I bought the bed." Hmm, that is not a complete sentence now.

That's also a type of subordinate clause and not a main clause.

This part is fine, but we need to have two complete sentences joined with our semi-colon.

So that doesn't work.

The third example, we've got a complete sentence before the semi-colon, and a complete sentence after it, because I've changed that word, instead of which, it now says, "It was a bargain." So that's a complete sentence.

So we have a complete sentence joined to another complete sentence by a semi-colon.

That works.

So let's practise that skill.

Pause the video and tick the sentence here that uses a semi-colon correctly.

Have a go.

Well done.

You're absolutely right.

It is C.

So we can see here, we've got the complete sentence before the semi-colon.

"It was our first day in Year 6," and a complete sentence afterwards.

"As we entered, Miss O'Neill asked us to read silently." Both of those are complete sentences.

We've joined them with a semi-colon.

Now, of course, now, they are now one sentence which has got two parts, one before the semi-colon and one after.

But before we joined them, they could have been, they're capable of being, complete sentences.

Really well done for spotting that.

So let's do our first task for this lesson.

I'd like you to add a semi-colon to each sentence in the correct position.

Here are the sentences, and remember to make sure that either side of the semi-colon could be a complete sentence.

Pause the video and have a go at adding in those semi-colons.

Well done.

Let's see where those semi-colons should be placed.

In A, we would put it after shivering, because "Jun was shivering;" is a complete sentence, and so is the part after the semi-colon.

In B, it would be after "It's a privilege to work here;" In C, after "When the temperature rises, we'll go outside;" And D, after "Walking into the kitchen, Dad sighed;" And E, after "I waved at Mr. Martinez in the shop;" And then in F, "We arrived on time, but the hotel couldn't accommodate us;" So notice how sometimes there, we had more than just the main clause on either side, didn't we? If you look at C, we've got, "When the temperature rises, we'll go outside." "When the temperature rises," is an adverbial clause followed by the main clause, "We'll go outside." But that would be a complete sentence on its own.

So we've joined it on to another complete sentence to make just one sentence joined by the semi-colon.

Fantastic job if you've managed to mark those boundaries by using those semi-colons in the right places.

Well done.

Okay, we've added in those semi-colons now to show boundaries.

Let's see if we can write some sentences now using semi-colons ourselves.

So we've seen that semicolon can be used to join together closely-related ideas to link them more closely together.

So how can we tell if ideas are closely-related enough to join together using a semi-colon? Well, there are a few clues that can help us.

Sometimes a semi-colon can replace 'and', for instance, "I often go to the leisure centre and I do judo in the sports hall." We could remove the 'and' and put a semi-colon instead.

"I often go to the leisure centre; I do judo in the sports hall." And sometimes, ideas are closely-related by cause and effect in a way that allows us to use the semi-colon.

So for instance, "We removed our coats because the temperature was rising rapidly." We could remove that conjunction 'because' and say, "We removed our coats; the temperature was rising rapidly." There's a cause and effect there, which allows us to join those ideas together with a semi-colon because they're so closely-related.

And sometimes, we can just use semi-colons to link things that are in order, or that happened one after another.

For instance, "First, we went to the cinema; then, we went to the restaurant." So there's several different clues there for helping us realise, oh, these ideas are closely-related enough that a semi-colon will work to join them together.

So how could we rewrite these sentences using semi-colons? Pause the video and have a think using those rules we just thought about.

Well done.

Let's take a look.

So for A, we could say, instead of this, "I was determined to practise hard; I wanted to do well on the test." So I've removed that subordinated injunction 'because' and I've replaced it with a semi-colon there.

For B, we have 'and' in the middle.

So this is a compound sentence.

We could remove the 'and' and write this instead.

"The inn struggled to accommodate all its visitors; it had to shut its doors to new arrivals." For C, we can see you've got two sentences, each starting with a fronted adverbial word telling us the order things happen.

So we could join those together with a semi-colon.

We could say, "Today, we'll visit a World War I cemetery; tomorrow we'll visit the D-Day beaches." They're very closely-related.

They're showing us the order things happening so we can join them with a semi-colon.

Brilliant job if you've thought of this.

So we've seen lots of good examples where we've used a semi-colon correctly.

Let's look at some examples now where the semi-colon has been used incorrectly.

Here's one.

"Alex got an average score on his Maths test; he really loves History." And I've got another one.

"Jun sprained a muscle in his wrist at the weekend; it's his birthday tomorrow." I bet you spot the problem here.

In these cases, the two main clauses aren't closely-related.

Getting an average score on a Maths test isn't linked to liking History.

Spraining a muscle in your wrist isn't linked to it being your birthday.

So these could instead be two separate sentences with full stops like this.

That works much better in this case because these aren't closely-related.

If we wanted to fix it, we could rewrite the sentence with a more closely-related second main clause after a semi-colon.

For instance, "Alex got an average score on his math test; he finds the subject quite challenging." So those two are linked together.

They're telling us more about Alex and his experience in Maths.

Or for Jun, I could say, "Jun sprained a muscle in his wrist at the weekend; hopefully, it will be better in time for his birthday." Can you see how that second main clause now relates to the injury that happens in the first main clause? So they're now closely-related, so we can now join them with that semi-colon.

So, which sentences have a semi-colon here used to join two closely-related ideas? Pause the video and see which ones have done it correctly, where we've got two closely-related ideas joined together.

Have a go.

Well done.

I bet you spotted that A is correct.

"Aisha loves to play sports; she's on several school teams." Those are closely-related ideas, we've joined them with a semi-colon.

B doesn't make sense.

Aisha's dad being a doctor has nothing to do with her loving playing sports.

But D does work.

It says "Mr. Martinez loves animals; he has a cat, a budgie, and a corn snake." Those two ideas are very closely-related.

But C, there was no connection was there.

Loving animals is not linked to living in the next village.

So we have to think, is the connection close enough for us to join those sentences, or should they be separate sentences with full stops? Great job if you spotted those two.

So, another way we often use semi-colons apart from the ones we've described so far, is to show a contrast or a comparison.

For instance, "Jacob loves writing; Izzy prefers Maths." "She's very confident; her brother is much more reserved." We've got a difference, a contrast.

I could say, "Spanish pronunciation is easy; Portuguese is much harder." Or, "The school is a hive of activity during the day; in the early evening, it's much calmer." We are showing a contrast on either side of our semi-colon, but notice how still, each side could be a complete sentence on its own.

So, in these cases, the semi-colon helps to show this contrast more clearly than if the main clauses were in separate individual sentences with full stops.

So this, again, contributes to our text cohesion by helping the reader understand our purpose, helping them to see that we're trying to show a contrast or a comparison.

So can you match each main clause to one it could be joined to using a semi-colon to show a contrast or a comparison? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Great job.

Hopefully you spotted that A would link to this one.

"My mom speaks several languages; my dad only speaks English." It's a contrast.

For B, we could say, "The rugby match was very physical and aggressive; the tennis match was much calmer." Again, a contrast.

And for C, "Andeep has a very complicated signature; mine is very simple." Each time, we've set up a contrast using the semi-colon, and by joining those ideas with the semi-colon, we help our readers to understand that we are comparing these two ideas, which builds our text cohesion and the flow of our writing.

Great job for matching those up correctly.

So let's try another one.

Can you take all the sentences here that use a semi-colon appropriately? So think about all the rules and ideas we've discussed about how we use semi-colons appropriately.

Which sentences here do all of those right? Pause the video and have a think.

Fantastic effort.

Well done.

A works, doesn't it? We've said, "I hate to interrupt; I can see you're busy." Well, the reason I don't want to interrupt is because I can see that you are busy.

So those two ideas are very closely-related, so it makes sense to join them.

B says "The old rabbit sighed; because he was all alone." I bet you spotted that that second part couldn't be a complete sentence, could it? That's a subordinate clause.

It can't be on its own as a sentence.

So that one won't work.

Let's check C, "Her stomach groaned; Her tea hadn't agreed with her." Well, those two ideas are closely related, but we've got a capital letter after the semi-colon, so that's not correct.

D does work.

Let's read it.

"My little sister is a nuisance; my brother, on the other hand, is much less annoying." Here, we're setting up a contrast between two closely-related individuals.

And so those ideas are definitely closely-related enough to be joined with that semi-colon.

Great job for spotting that.

So, we can choose to end a sentence with a semi-colon in different ways.

And we've seen different ideas we can use in a semi-colon which are closely-related.

So if we start off with this main clause, "Aisha was appalled," then we can think of different ways we could end that after the semi-colon with what could be a complete sentence.

I could say, "Aisha was appalled; Sam was delighted." I could say, "Aisha was appalled; the news was truly shocking." I could say, "Aisha was appalled; she clapped her hands to her mouth." I could say, "Aisha was appalled; she couldn't believe what had happened." So, we might want to be shown a contrast here like we did with "Aisha was appalled; Sam was delighted." Maybe a cause and effect.

This is why Aisha's appalled.

She's heard some shocking news.

Or we might just wanna add some related information that links to the first main clause, which is what we're doing here.

So we've seen there's lots of different uses for a semi-colon, and different ways in which the two pieces of information can be closely-related.

But they must be closely-related in some way, which is true of all of our examples here.

So how can we finish each of these sentences by adding a second main clause after the semi-colon? What can you think of that is closely-related by contrast, by cause and effect, or by simply being additional information that we could put after the semi-colon for each of these examples? Pause the video and have a think.

Brilliant job.

You got some fantastic ideas there.

And I'm sure yours are much more imaginative than mine.

Here are my ideas.

I could say, "Our neighbours to the right is very friendly; she always gives us biscuits when we visit." I could say, "The one on the left is quite the opposite." That one's a contrast.

And I could say, "We've been visiting her house for years." In each case, these are very closely-related ideas which I've joined together.

Here, my second example, we've got, "The Italian restaurant in the village is excellent." So I could say, "The Greek one is awful," a contrast.

Or I could say, "It has the most incredible pizzas." That's just extra information.

Explains why it's excellent.

And I could say, "We go there most Fridays." So that's closely-related because the reason we go there most Fridays is because it's excellent.

So they're closely-related enough to join with that semi-colon.

Fantastic work if you've got something similar.

So let's do our final task for this lesson.

I've given you the first part of the sentence, which can be followed by a semi-colon.

I'd like you to write a second main clause to complete each sentence using a semi-colon to link it to the one you've been given.

Now, it might be more than just a main clause.

You might include different, longer details as well, like you've seen in some of my examples.

But it needs to be at least a main clause because it has to be a complete sentence on its own that we've joined to this first sentence because it's so closely-related.

We've seen different ways we can make these ideas closely-related.

So you might want to do a contrast.

You might want it to be cause and effect.

You might just want extra information.

But it must be closely-rated enough to this first main clause that we could join it with a semi-colon.

So I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Pause the video and have a try.

Great job.

I think you've got some fantastic ideas here.

So here are my examples.

I could say, "Mr. Martinez is very passionate about music; he often brings his guitar into school and sings with us." For B, I wrote, "The temple's absolutely ancient; its stone walls were crumbling." For C, I wrote, "My dad suggested we go to the beach; Mum wants to go to the park." So that one's a contrast.

For D, I wrote, "Sam stretched thoroughly before PE; she was determined not to get an injury before the match." That one's cause and effect, the reason why Sam's stretching is because she doesn't want to get injured.

And for E, I wrote, "The temperature inside the classroom was very high; outside, it was cool." That one's a contrast as well.

And for F, I wrote, " I can't guarantee it will be easy; in fact, it may be difficult, very difficult." So again, we've got a contrast going on there.

Fantastic work there.

You came with some brilliant ideas for how to get a second closely-related main clause joined to your first main clause.

Well done.

Okay, let's review our learning in this lesson.

We said that semi-colon is a punctuation mark used to join two closely-related ideas.

And we said that the part of the sentence on either side of the semi-colon must be able to be a complete sentence on its own, containing at least one main clause.

We've said that we cannot join unrelated ideas using a semi-colon.

The two parts must share a clear connection together.

And we've said that using a semi-colon contributes to, adds to text cohesion by connecting ideas more closely than if they were in separate sentences.

You've done an absolutely fantastic job in this lesson.

Really well done, and I can't wait to see you again in a future one.

Goodbye.