Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and thank you so much for joining me today to learn about semicolons.

Now, we're going to be using semicolons today to write some really impressive, descriptive paragraphs, so I can't wait to see what you come up with in this lesson.

Let's make a start.

Today's lesson is called "Semicolon's Second Function," and it comes from my unit called "Punctuation." By the end of the day's lesson, we'll be able to use the semicolon in a detailed list in which each item includes commas.

You may already know that semicolons can be used to join two closely related main causes together.

They also have a second function in detailed lists, which we're going to focus on in this lesson.

And we're going to see how we can use these in our narrative rating to create some really vivid descriptions for our reader.

Let's get to work.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Semicolon.

Ambiguity.

Colon.

And comma.

Well done.

So a semicolon has two functions, as I just said, but in this lesson we're focusing on its function as a piece of punctuation that can separate items in a detailed list in which each item includes commas.

We see ambiguity when the meaning of a sentence or text is unclear to the reader.

A colon is a piece of punctuation placed after a main clause that can introduce a list or a question.

It also has other functions, but we'll focus on that one today.

And a comma is a piece of punctuation that has many functions again, but today we'll focus on using it to separate nouns in a list and to demarcate a non-finite clause or a relative clause.

Don't worry if any of these terms sound unfamiliar.

We'll talk about 'em in detail all the way through this lesson.

So, let's look at our lesson outline.

We're going to start off by punctuating a list using semicolons, and then we'll practise writing our own lists using semicolons.

And throughout today's lesson, we're going to focus on these lists in narrative writing.

You may already know that a colon can be used to introduce a list of nouns.

Here's an example.

"I would like to speak to the following children: Alex, Sophia, Laura and Aisha." Now notice how before that colon we've got a main clause.

"I would like to speak to the following children." I know it's a main clause because it could be a complete sentence on its own.

And then after the colon, I have the list of nouns.

Notice how the first three are separated with commas, but the last two have "and" in between them with no comma.

So when we use a colon to introduce a list like this, what comes before the colon must be capable of being a complete sentence on its own, containing at least one main clause.

Here's another example.

"Because it was Christmas, we had a huge meal: chicken, potatoes, parsnip, stuffing, carrots, peas and gravy." Now we've separated those nouns on the list with commas, just as we said before, with "and" between the last two with no comma.

But before the colon, we've got what could be a complete sentence.

"Because it was Christmas, we had a huge meal." That could be a sentence on its own.

And this time it would be a complex sentence.

It would have a subordinate clause, "Because it was Christmas," and a main clause, "We had a huge meal." But we can still place it before the colon because it's a complete sentence.

And then the list of nouns goes after the colon.

So we must ensure there's always at least a main clause before the colon or what could be a complete sentence containing a main clause and perhaps a subordinate clause as well, as we saw in the last example.

So here's another example.

Let's see if it's a good example or a bad example.

"We visited several beautiful cities during a holiday, including: Durham, York, Ripon and Chester." Now, let's look at what's before the colon there.

Adding that word "including" makes that no longer a main clause that makes sense in its own.

So that doesn't work.

Instead, we could say this.

"We visited several beautiful cities during a holiday: Durham, York, Ripon and Chester." This is a complete sentence, so that one works.

Before the colon we need a complete sentence.

Here's another way we could do it.

We could say, "We visited several beautiful cities during a holiday, including all the following:" And that way what comes before the colon is, again, a complete sentence.

So it must be a complete sentence before that colon, and then the list of nouns will follow afterwards.

So where can a colon be placed to introduce each list of nouns here? Pause the video and have a careful think, remembering you need a complete sentence before the colon.

Have a go.

Well done, great effort.

So in A I would put it here, after "professions." "I have considered entering various different professions:" because that's a complete sentence.

And then we can see that list of nouns with the commas and "and." In B I would put it here, after "locations." It would say, "The tour bus stopped at several important locations:" and then we have a list of nouns.

And in C I'd put it here, "Britain produces a number of types of cheese, including the following:" So again, we've got a complete sentence before the colon, followed by the list of nouns.

Fantastic grammar work, well done.

Now, normally the items in a list of nouns, as we've seen, are separated by commas.

For instance, "A Puja tray for Hindu worship contains many important items: a bell, incense, a lamp, a water container, a spoon and a box of red powder." So what we wanted to list these items instead? A small, brass bell.

Not just a bell, a small, brass bell.

A delicate, metal spoon.

Not just a spoon, a delicate, metal spoon.

And several sticks of fragrant, aromatic incense.

Can you see how these items are now expanded noun phrases? Som each of these expanded noun phrases contains a comma, "A small, brass bell." That comma separated those two adjectives, small and brass, that describe the noun bell.

We've got a comma between the adjectives delicate and metal, a comma between the adjectives, fragrant and aromatic, in each of these expanded noun phrases.

So that gives us a problem, doesn't it? It'll be very confusing if we separated the items using commas because there's already a comma in inside each of these items. So it'd be very confusing if we were just to list them with commas between the items. So instead, we can use a semicolon.

So when the items in a list contain commas themselves, like the three we just saw, we can separate them using semicolons.

So here's how it would look.

"The Puja tray contains many important items:" So we've started our list.

Now we've got our first item, a small, brass bell.

It has a comma inside it, so we've put the semicolon after it.

Then we have the next item, a delicate, metal spoon.

That had a comma inside it, so we've put a semicolon after it.

And now notice this unusual bit.

We've got the semicolon, and then we've got our last item and we've written "and." "And several sticks of fragrant, aromatic incense." So there's a big difference.

Notice how there is a semicolon between the last two items and before "and." We don't do that when we're just using commas and list.

We do do that when we're using semicolons to list these more detailed items and the items are containing commas.

So here's another example.

"She served us a tray of delicious cheeses:" That's a complete sentence before the colon.

Now we've got our items in the list.

Each item contains a comma, so I've used semicolons to separate them.

"A sharp, tangy Stilton; a delicate, crumbly Wensleydale; and a soft, melt-in-the-mouth goats' cheese." Notice how each of those items, sharp, tangy, delicate, crumbly, soft, melt-in-the-mouth had an expanded down phrase where the two adjectives were separated by a comma, so we have to separate the items in the list using semicolons, or otherwise we'd have been very confused about where the different items were 'cause there'd be just too many commas in confusing positions.

So, where can a colon and semicolons be placed in each list? Remember, the semicolons here will separate expanded noun phrases, which themselves contain commas.

So pause the video and decide where would you place the colon to start the list, and the semicolons between the items in the list.

Have a think.

Well done.

Really good grammar thinking.

So in A, we would put it here for the colon.

"We saw some incredible creatures in the rainforest:" Then we're separating our items, "Bright gaudy parrots; mischievous, furry monkeys; and tiny, poisonous frogs." So we had three items. We've separated them with semicolons because each item already contained a comma in their expanded noun phrase.

Let's try B.

We would say this.

"She bought several items: a shimmering, sequin skirt; a soft woolly scarf; and some small gold earrings." And in C I put it here.

"The explorer unpacked the items from her bag: an old, leather bound book; a tatty, stained map; and a battered plastic radio." So again, because each item contains a comma itself, we've used the semicolons to separate those items. And notice how we've used a semicolon before "and" on these occasions.

We don't do that when we're using just commas, and we do do it when we're using semicolons.

So, we've seen commas used in expanded noun phrases so far to separate two adjectives.

But commas, as you know, are also used in many other ways.

For instance, I might write this.

"Gaudy parrots, squawking in the morning light." Or I might write, "Tiny frogs, leaping from leaf to leaf." So these are things we might see in the jungle.

So here we've got a comma before a non-finite I-N-G clause, "squawking in the morning light," and, "leaping from leaf to leaf." The comma comes before that I-N-G verb that starts the non-finite I-N-G clause, squawking and leaping.

So, a non-finite I-N-G clause is a subordinate clause, it doesn't make complete sense in its own, and it starts with the I-N-G form of a verb, "squawking" and "leaping." So, "Squawking in the morning light," and, "Leaping from leaf to leaf," are both non-finite I-N-G clauses, and we always put a comma before one.

Another way we might use a comma is in a before or around a relative clause.

So we might talk about, "Monkeys, whose clever hands gripped tangled vines." Or, "Vast trees, which seemed to reach up to the billowing clouds, loomed above us." So here we've got commas to show the relative clauses.

In the first example, the comma comes before the relative clause.

And in the second example, the relative clause is embedded inside a clause, so we've put commas on either side.

So, a comma comes before the relative pronoun that starts the relative clause.

And that's the word "whose" or "which." Or it could be "who" or "where" or "when." And then we've got commas an either side of an embedded relative clause, like the second example where it's inside another clause.

So we've got commas used in two different ways here, before non-finite I-N-G clauses, starting with those I-N-G verbs, and before relative clauses, starting with these relative pronouns.

So where is the comma needed in each of these examples to show a relative clause or a non-finite I-N-G clause? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Good effort.

So in A, we've got "A shimmering skirt, which swished as she moved." I know "which" is a relative pronoun.

So that's starting the relative clause.

So the comma comes before the relative clause, and after "a shimmering skirt." For B, I can see I've got "Gold earrings sparkling vividly in the sunlight." I see the I-N-G form of a verb there, "sparkling." So that must be the start of the non-finite I-N-G clause.

So the comma comes before that word.

"Gold earrings, sparkling vividly in the sunlight." And in C, I've got, "Whose woollen surface was richly patterned." I know "whose" is a relative pronoun.

That must be the start of the relative clause.

So I'm gonna put the comma before that relative clause.

Really good job if you got those.

Now, we might want to write a list of descriptions using relative and non-finite I-N-G clauses that include commas.

For instance, we might want to describe a lifeless, desert landscape.

So I've got my first part of my sentence here before the colon, "The desert was a lifeless landscape." That's a main clause, and I need it to be a main clause before my colon.

Then I'm gonna start listing things I see in that lifeless landscape.

Maybe I see vast sand dunes baking under the fiery sun.

Hmm, I wonder what type of clause I've used there after the comma? Or maybe I see withered shrubs gasping for the merest drop of water.

I bet you spotted that both of those are containing a non-finite I-N-G clause, so we've got a comma before the I-N-G clause starting with the I-N-G verb "baking" and "gasping." Maybe I'll think of some relative clauses.

"Tall mountains, which were barren as stone." "Tiny pools, which once quenched travellers thirst, now reduced to muddy puddles." These are other things I might see in this lifeless desert.

So here I've got commas to show the relative clauses before "which" and before "which" in the second one, that second one's an embedded relative clause, isn't it? Inside another clause.

So we've had to use commas in these pieces of description, and we might want to put these pieces of description into a list.

So I bet you've already spotted we are going to need to separate these items in a list using semicolons.

So, because those items contain commas, we must use semicolons when we list them to avoid ambiguity, to avoid confusion.

That list would be so confusing with all those commas inside the items. If we also use commas to separate the items, that would be confusing.

So to avoid that ambiguity, we use semicolons.

So here's how it might look.

We could say, "The desert was a lifeless landscape: vast sand dunes, baking under the fiery sun; withered shrubs gasping for the merest drip of water; and tall mountains which were barren as stone." So I've listed three things in that lifeless landscape.

Each of the things contained a comma.

So I've used semicolons to separate those items. Here's another example where the punctuation reduces that ambiguity.

I'm talking about the animals in the desert now.

I could say, "A host of desperate animals lap thirstily at the muddy puddle:" So, I've got my full sentence before the colon.

Now I'm going to list those animals.

"A weary desert fox, whose fur was thinning and worn; a solitary gazelle, glancing up constantly for any sign of danger; and a furry sand cat, who was eyeing the fox with concern.

So notice how I've got a relative clause, "whose fur was thinning and worn," with a comma in front.

I've got a non-finite I-N-G clause "glancing up constantly for any sign of danger," with a comma in front.

And I've got another relative clause, "Who is eyeing the fox with concern" with a comma in front.

And because of those commas, I need to use the semicolons to avoid confusion and ambiguity.

So have a look at this paragraph.

Where should a colon and semicolons be added to this paragraph to punctuate this detailed list to remove the ambiguity? If you read this list now, you'll see it's very ambiguous and confusing.

That's why we need the semicolons.

So where should they go and where should the colon be placed as well? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Great effort.

There's so much to think about here, isn't there? So first of all, we need to work out out what are the list items? The first one is this, "A pile of scorched bones, which were white as ivory." Then the second one is this, "An emaciated tree," that means skinny, "whose leaves had long since desiccated," dried up.

And then the third list item is this, "the tiny corpse of a lizard, crisping in the midday sun." So now I know what the three list items are.

I know where to add to the colon, before the list, and the semicolons between those items. So it would look like this.

"The desert floor was littered with evidence of the extreme heat: a pile of scorched bones, which are white as ivory; an emaciated tree, whose leaves had long since desiccated; and the tiny corpse of a lizard crisping in the midday sun." So we've now removed all that ambiguity by making the list items clear using those semicolons.

Great job.

So as we've seen, colons, semicolons, and commas are all needed when we introduce a list of detailed descriptions, like this one.

"The intrepid explorer wearily removes some items from her pack: a wide-brimmed, canvas hat, which might protect her face from the sear heat; a large, metallic bottle of life-preserving water, warm by the second in the sun; and a St.

Christopher pendant, which her mother had given her for good luck." So let's examine the punctuation here.

We've got that colon to introduce the list after a main clause, or what could be a complete sentence.

We've got semicolons to separate the three list items. Inside the list items we have commas.

So we've got some commas and expanded noun phrases between adjectives, "Wide-brimmed, canvas." "Large, metallic." And we've also got commas for relative and non-finite clauses.

We've got "a wide-brimmed, canvas hat, which might protect her face from the searing heat." We've got "life-preserving water, warming by the second in the sun." And we've got, "a St.

Christopher pendant, which her mother had given her for good luck." So there's an awful lot going on here and we need to try and remember these pieces of punctuation which remove that ambiguity from our list.

So where should the commas be added in this detailed list? I've put in that the colon and the semicolons to separate the list items, but where should the commas be placed to show those expanded noun phrases separating the two adjectives, and to show the non-finite and relative clauses? Pause the video and have a careful look.

Well done.

Great thinking.

So, hopefully you notice this relative clause here, which is going to need a comma before it.

We've got this non-finite I-N-G clause, which will need a comma before it.

And we've got this relative clause which will also need a comma before it.

So it would look like this.

Now we've also added in commas for expanded noun phrases between two adjectives.

We had, "A shimmering, golden lamp." "A small, intricately-patterned silver platter." And, "a perfect, delicate comb." So we had commas before the non-finite and relative clauses, and commas between the adjective pairs.

Lots to do.

Great job if you spotted all those.

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

I'm gonna show you two complex detailed lists.

For each list I want you to add the commas, semicolons, and the colon that are needed to reduce the ambiguity about what's being described.

So here are your lists.

Read them carefully out loud first, and you'll start to hear what the separate list items are.

And you'll also hear what the complete sentence before the colon might be.

So pause the video and think carefully about where you're going to add all this punctuation to these beautiful, descriptive, detailed lists.

Have a go.

Fantastic job.

Well done.

There's so much to think about.

I love how carefully you're doing this.

So, let's have a look at the first one.

We would say, "The explorer gathered her most prized possessions:" That's a complete sentence.

Then we got our first list item, "A tattered crumpled letter from her father," Then this non-finite I-N-G clause, "telling her how proud he was." Semicolon for the next item, "A shiny, bronze compass, which had saved her life on so many occasions." That one had a relative clause.

And the last list item, "and a small, battered copy of her favourite book, whose pages were now worn to shreds." "Whose pages were now worn to shreds" is a relative clause.

so I have a comma before it.

Great job of you spotted those.

For B I've started off with a complete sentence before the colon again.

"She thought about some of her most challenging expeditions:" We've got, "the long, arduous trek across the Himalayas, where she had broken an ankle." That's a relative clause, it needs a comma before it.

Then I've got my semicolon, the next list item.

"The hot-air balloon flight over the Alps, ending in a crash-landing on a glacier." That's a non-finite I-N-G clause, "before ending." It needs the comma.

And the last list item, "and the endless, soul-destroying hike across the barren Gobi Desert," relative clause coming up, "who's never-ending sands has so nearly defeated her." If you managed to get all of those pieces of punctuation, you've done an outstanding job.

So, well done.

If you missed a couple, don't panic.

We'll be working on this the whole lesson, so you'll have time to catch up.

Well done.

Okay, let's move on now to thinking about how we can write our own list using semicolons.

So, let's imagine our explorer now heads to a polar region like this one.

She might see many nouns of things around her.

Maybe bright sunlight.

I've used an adjective to describe the noun.

Maybe gleaming ice.

Another noun phrase.

Vast whales, immense glaciers.

Because there are no commas in these noun phrases, because I've just used one adjective in each, we can make these into a list of nouns using just the colon and commas.

It might look like this.

"The polar landscape was filled with visual delights: gleaming ice, immense glassier and vast whales." Because I used commas, we don't have a comma before that "and." Why did I use commas? Because each item is only two words, and each item does not contain a comma because it doesn't have two adjectives separated by a comma.

So when there aren't commas in the items, we don't need so semicolons to separate the items in the list.

So, let's see if you can think of your own list sentence with a colon and a comma to describe the polar landscape.

And you might wish to use one of these openers I've given you here.

So remember, this time you're just going to use maybe one adjective to describe each of your nouns, not several adjectives, and not a relative clause, because we're not going to use semicolon straightaway here.

So pause the video and have a try at making this more simple list sentence to start off with.

Great job, good thinking.

So, you might come up with something like this.

I said, "The polar landscape was filled with breathtaking wonders: vast ice shelves, jagged icebergs, snowy peaks and crystalline waters." So, I've used commas in my list because these items were simple.

They don't contain commas themselves.

Hopefully you managed to do something similar.

Good job.

So if we added another adjective to those expanded noun phrases, we'd need to use a comma, wouldn't we? So we'd say, "bright, shimmering sunlight," "dazzling.

ivory snow," "vast, serene whales," "immense, frozen glaciers." So we've now got two adjectives describing each noun in those expanded noun phrases.

So if we now made a list, we'd need to use semicolons between the expanded noun phrases, as well as commas inside them, and we need a colon.

So we'd say something like this.

"The polar landscape was filled with incredible sights: bright, shimmering sunlight; immense, frozen glaciers; and vast, serene whales." So because my items now contain a comma, I now need semicolons between those items in my list.

So don't forget, unlike with commas, we use a semicolon between the last two items in the list before the word "and".

So, using expanded noun phrases with two adjectives like we just saw, can you think of a list sentence to describe the landscape? And again, I've given you two openers to start with and some nouns you might want to use to make your expanded noun phrases with two adjectives.

Pause the video and see what you can come up with.

Amazing ideas.

Well done.

Maybe you came up with something like this.

"The polar landscape was adorned," that means covered, "with wonders: hulking, monolithic icebergs; vast, jagged peaks; and serene, crystalline waters." So I had expanded noun phrases containing a comma separated by semicolons.

Well done if you did the same.

Now, we also talked about using non-finite I-N-G clauses in our list, didn't we? So let's generate some of those to describe some of our nouns.

And remember, a non-finite I-N-G clause starts with an I-N-G form of a verb.

For instance, "rushing into the room," "reaching into the clouds," "looming over us," "glittering in the sun." So here's an example.

I've got, "ivory snow," a noun phrase.

I'm following it by a non-finite clause.

"Ivory snow, glittering," there's my I-N-G word, "in the bright sun." "Serene whales, gliding," I-N-G word, "through the placid waters, like great submarines." "Immense glaciers, twisting down the mountainsides." "magnificent peaks, surging towards the clouds." So notice we've got a comma before the non-finite I-N-G clause.

So we could use those non-finite I-N-G clauses to add to our list sentence.

I could say, "The polar landscape was adorned with myriad," that means countless, "wonders: Ivory snow, glittering in the bright sun; serene whales, gliding through the placid waters like great submarines; and magnificent peaks, surging towards the clouds." So, I had my list items. Each list item contained a comma before the non-finite I-N-G clause.

So I have to use semicolons to separate those items to avoid ambiguity.

So we've used both of these, semicolons to separate the list items, and commas before the non-finite I-N-G clauses.

So let's see if you can try.

Think of a non-finite I-N-G clause using one of the nouns below, or your own noun.

And don't forget to say the comma.

For example, "immense glaciers, comma, twisting down the mountainsides." Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Great job.

Maybe you came up with, "Vast icebergs, jutting out from the icy water." Or, "Icy waters, lapping gently against towering ice sheets." Or, "Snow-capped peaks, looming up above her head." Or finally, "Crystalline ice, covering everything in sight." So each time I've got a comma before my I-N-G word.

So we can also use relative clauses, as we saw, to describe those nouns.

So relative remember, starts with a relative pronoun, like who, which, who's or where.

And it always has a comma before it.

And if it interrupts another clause, it has commas on either side.

Let me show you some examples.

I could say "Ivory snow, which covered every surface in sight." I could say, "Vast ice sheets, where comical penguins waddled inelegantly." And we can even have a relative clause next to a non-finite clause.

For instance, "Icebergs, which towered above her, jutting out of the water like cathedral towers." I could even say, "What vast whales, whose skin was studded with barnacles, gliding below the waves." So notice there, because the relative clauses have interrupted another clause, they have commas on either side.

So, can you think of a relative clause starting with who, whose, which, or where, to go after one of the nouns below, or your own choice? Here's an example.

"Immense glaciers, whose surface was crisscrossed with crevices, slid down mountainsides." So you're going to add a relative clause after one of these nouns.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Fantastic job.

Maybe you came up with something like this.

I said, "Icy waters, which were teaming with life, lapping against vast icebergs." Or maybe, "Snow-capped mountains, whose peaks pierced the ivory clouds." Or finally I put, "Crystalline ice, whose surface was smooth as a pebble, covering everything in sight." Now these are really detailed descriptions, aren't they? We've got relative clauses, we've got adjectives, we've got non-finite I-N-G clauses.

And they're really adding to that detailed description we want to give our reader of these beautiful places.

We've now got a wide range of different ideas for a detailed list sentence describing our explorer's trip to a polar region.

Here's my example, let's break it down.

I've started off with an exciting opening that contains a main clause.

I've got, "The explorer surveyed the frozen landscape taking in the myriad wonders:" Then I start my list, and I've said, "Icy water, which was teaming with life; immense icebergs, jutting out from the waves; and rugged rocky mountains, whose peaks pierced the ivory clouds." So I've got expanded down phrases.

There's one here, "rugged," and "rocky." And then I've got non-finite I-N-G clauses.

I've got, "jutting out from the waves." and I've also got relative clauses, "Which was teaming with life" and "whose peaks pierced the ivory clouds." So I've used all these different features and separated the items with semicolons.

So notice we've used semicolons to separate the list items and commas inside those items to show clauses and to separate those adjectives.

So can you spot where we've used each of those features In this example? The list of features is in green on the right.

Can you find those features inside this example detailed list sentence? Pause the video and have a try.

Good job.

Hopefully you spotted, first of all, that exciting opening containing the main clause before the colon.

We also have some expanded noun phrases, "elegant, serene whales." We've got a non-finite I-N-G clause, "pouring down the mountainsides." And we've got relative clauses, "Where walruses roared and fought" and "which floated silently beneath the mirror-like surface." So we've used all those features in our detailed list.

Great job for spotting those.

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

I want you to write your own detailed list using all the ideas you've generated in this second part of our lesson.

So you might want to describe these nouns, and you want to try and include these features that exciting opening, those expanded noun phrases, those non-finite clauses and relative clauses, some of which, remember, will need commas.

And you must include that colon to start the list after a main clause, semicolons between the items, and commas inside those items. This is gonna take you a while 'cause you've got a lot to think about.

So pause the video and think really carefully about how it can make your description detailed and vivid for your reader.

Have a go.

Wow, well done for packing so much detail into that description.

Here's an example with all the punctuation.

Now, let's examine the punctuation I've used here.

I've got a colon to begin my list after my complete sentence.

"The explorer trudged across the frozen landscape, gazing in wonder while lay before her:" I've also got semicolons between the list items. They're here, and here, including before "and" at the end there.

So I've got three items in my list.

I've got a comma between two adjectives here, "calm, crystalline." I've got commas before relative clauses and non-finite I-N-G clauses, "comma, which spiralled up towards the heavens." That's a relative clause.

"comma, teaming with tottering penguins and tiny chicks." That's a non-finite I-N-G clause.

And, "comma, whose surf was was broken only by jets of spray from whales' blowholes." That's a relative clause.

So all of that together builds that detailed, vivid description for my reader.

Well done for getting so much detail into your own example.

Great work.

So let's summarise our learning in this lesson.

We've learned that we can use a colon after a complete sentence to start a list of nouns.

We've learned that we usually separate items in a list with commas, but if the items within the list contain commas themselves, then we separate the items using semicolons.

And we've learned that including a relative clause, a non-finite I-N-G clause, or an expanded noun phrase or two with two adjectives in a list will cause it to include a comma, which will mean a semicolon is needed in the list.

And remember, what that does is avoid that ambiguity, that confusion about what the items are in our list.

You've done a fantastic job in this lesson creating some beautiful, detailed descriptions and I really hope you can go away and try and use that skill in your own writing.

Great work, and I hope to see you again in the future lesson.

Goodbye.