Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to your English lesson.

I'm Ms. Gayle, and our focus for this lesson is on semicolons.

We'll be covering how to use a semicolon effectively in a sentence to link main clauses, and that will improve the clarity and cohesion of our writing.

And cohesion just means how well our ideas are linked or connected to one another.

What I'd like you to do first is to take a moment to clear any distractions away.

Make sure you have everything you need at hand.

You'll need just a pen and paper.

Now I'd like you to write down the title, "Grammar for writing: using semicolons to link main clauses." So as we said, our focus today is on semicolons.

So we'll start by just recapping some of the rules of how to use them, then practise by checking our understanding.

Then we'll plan to use semicolons in a short piece of writing so that we can practise how to use them and embed them every time we're trying to express ourselves clearly.

So my first question to you is how do you use a semicolon? A semicolon joins two main clauses; they have to be linked or related to each other.

And that's really, really important.

Essentially, using a semicolon is a way of forming a compound sentence, so both sides of a semicolon must be able to exist independently and must be able to make sense on their own.

You might like to write that down in your notes so that you have a reference point for the rule of how to use a semi colon.

Well done.

Now, before we practise, I just want you to watch out for some of these common errors.

First, you don't need a capital letter after you've used a semicolon unless the first word is a proper noun.

Remember, a proper noun is the name of a person or place.

You should not use a semicolon to separate a subordinate clause, that's one that does not make sense on its own, from a main clause, because that's the job of a comma.

So remember, a semicolon joins two main clauses.

They have to be linked or related to each other, and essentially it's like forming a compound sentence.

So we're going to check out understanding with a short quiz.

I want you to tell me what sentences you're about to see are correct or incorrect in the way that they use a semicolon.

Here's the first.

Is that correct or incorrect? Well done.

This sentence is incorrect.

It's wrong because one of the clauses is subordinate.

Where it says because, that actually takes the place of the semicolon.

Remember, a semicolon needs main clauses on either side.

What about this example? Is this sentence correct or incorrect in the way that it's used a semicolon? Well done.

This sentence is correct, and that's because it joins two main clauses.

So "tears of joy ran down her face" is a main clause, "she was free" is a main clause, and they are linked together, so we can use a semicolon there to connect them.

What about this example? Well done.

This one is incorrect.

Can you tell me why it's incorrect? This one is incorrect because it does not have two main clauses on either side of the semicolon.

That second clause there is not a main clause.

How about this example? "Summer is my favourite time of the year; The weather is mostly glorious!" This one is incorrect because it does not need a capital letter after the semicolon, so although we've got two main clauses and the subjects are related to each other, we should not have that capital letter.

Now I would like you to pause the video and make a note of everything you need to know about how to use semicolon, using those sentence starters on your screen.

Resume once you're done.

You should have written, a semicolon is used to join two main clauses that are linked or related to each other.

You do not need to use a capital letter after the semicolon unless it is a proper noun, and you should never use a semicolon to separate a main clause from a subordinate clause.

Well done if you've written those down accurately.

So today, we're going to begin to articulate some of our thoughts and opinions, and we're going to practise how to use semicolons in our own piece of writing to show viewpoint.

Now, when we write to show viewpoint, that's us expressing an opinion, so it's really important that we learn as we develop as writers how to state clearly and communicate effectively what we think.

Your ideas matter just as much as anyone else's, so making sure that you clearly express those ideas is something that we're going to work on today.

On your screen is an opinion.

"Your wellbeing is your most valuable possession; it is just as important as academic attainment or success." Starting today, we'll be building an argument based on the statement on your screen.

I want you to be able to think, plan, and articulate your thoughts and opinions on this statement.

So today we're going to start to explore some of the ideas you might use in that argument, and then practise using semicolons accurately.

This topic might lead you to think about anxiety or depression, so if this is a sensitive topic to you, we recommend checking with a trusted adult before starting or during this section of the lesson, or do it with a trusted adult nearby.

So let's begin this section by breaking down the statement you can see.

First, what do we mean by wellbeing? Wellbeing is the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.

So that means being able to cope with the normal stresses of life, being able to work productively and fruitfully, and being able to make a contribution to your community.

It means anything relating to your physical or mental health, your relationships, your satisfaction, your sense of contentment or happiness within yourself.

I'd like you to pause and consider why these things are important.

Now, we all want to live happy and successful lives and wellbeing and taking care of our wellbeing is central to that.

It's really important to know what makes you happy and healthy and how you can promote that in your own life.

So that leads us to the next point that the statement makes.

It asks us to think about our most valuable possession being our wellbeing.

And then we think about value not in terms of money, but in terms of importance or worth.

So why is wellbeing worth so much? Do you think you value wellbeing as highly as other things in your life? The next part of the statement is really where you need to start thinking about your opinions and ideas.

Is your emotional wellbeing, happiness, and health as important, less important, or more important than your academic success.

That means your success at school and the exam results you might get.

Do you think that that's reflected in the way that you live your life, or in the way that you spend your time at school, or on what you might prioritise? If not, why not? So having gathered some of those thoughts together, I want you to try and write some down now.

Just initial thoughts in brief, please, about what your thoughts are on this statement.

So use the sentence stems on your screen, just to get our planning and thinking secured in your notes.

I want you to write down whether you agree, disagree, or agree to some extent with that statement, explain why you think wellbeing is important, and what do you think that has, and how you think that applies in your own life.

Pause the video and resume once you are done.

If can, try and use the sentence stems on your screen and use a semicolon if and where you can.

Remember, a semicolon joins two main clauses together, and they have to be linked or related to each of them.

Well done.

So hopefully you've got your own thoughts together now about the statement on your screen.

Quickly just to recap, what does a semicolon do? Well done if you remembered that a semicolon joins two main clauses and they have to be linked or related to each other.

So what we're going to do now is think about some facts, statistics, and ideas relating to the issue we're discussing today.

Now, the statistics we're about to read do contain reference to anxiety and depression, and for some people, this might be a sensitive topic.

If that does apply to you, you may want to do the rest of this lesson with a trusted adult nearby who can support you.

So here are some interesting statistics about the subject of wellbeing, particularly in schools.

What do you make of them? How a read through independently.

I will read through them in a moment, but pause the video to read them yourselves, and then we'll discuss how we might extend those sentences by using a semicolon to add another main clause.

Number one.

"Over the course of their education, children spend over 7,800 hours at school." Number two.

"81% of young people said that they would like their school or college to teach them more about how to look after their mental health." Number three.

"Rates of depression and anxiety in teenagers have increased by 70% in the past 25 years." Number four.

"70% of teachers agreed that the government should rebalance the education system to focus more on the wellbeing of students." Number five.

"More young people felt that their school cared more about their grades and results than it cared about them being happy.

That's 81% to 67%." How do those facts and statistics strike you and your experience? What I'd like us to practise now is extending those sentences using semicolons.

So we're going to just practise using semicolons to extend that main clause into two main clauses linked by a semicolon, and you can see I've done the first example for you.

So, "Over the course of their education, children spend over 7,800 hours at school, semicolon, that time should be spent wisely." I'm using that second main clause to extend and link onto what I've already said in my first main clause.

I'd like you to pause the video and do the other four sentences on your screen now.

Extend them by adding a semicolon.

Extend them by adding a semicolon to add another main clause.

Well done.

What we're going to do now is try to bring some of our own ideas together with sort of the facts and statistics that we've just seen.

We're going to write the beginning of an article explaining your point of view.

Remember, the statement we're looking at is, "Your wellbeing is your most valuable possession; it is just as important as academic attainment or success." So look at this example paragraph.

In it, you'll notice that I've tried to vary my sentence structures as much as possible.

I've used semicolons to deepen and extend my reflections.

Take a moment to read it through, because in a moment, you're going to write your own example.

"By the time you leave school, you will have spent over 7,800 hours immersed in the adventure of knowledge, progress, and academic success.

But will you have learnt to value your own wellbeing? For young people like you, an understanding of how to value your own mental health, happiness, and wellbeing is just as important as the qualifications you emerge with by the end of your formal education.

Stress, pressure, and self-doubt can mean that academic attainment sometimes comes at the expense of wellbeing.

It doesn't have to be this way." As you can see in that example, I've tried to use at least one semicolon, I've used a range of sentence structures, and I've also tried to think about the rhetorical devices, the language devices that can help my writing to feel more persuasive.

So that's things like direct address, where I'm talking directly to the reader using the pronoun you.

It's things like emotive language, where I've maybe listed ideas or feelings that the reader can identify with.

And it's using rhetorical questions like, "But will you have learned to value your own wellbeing?" Really directly engaging with the reader and what they're thinking.

So I'd like you to try and do that now, thinking about your own viewpoint on the statement, perhaps using some of those facts and statistics that we looked at earlier.

The focus, remember, is to use a semicolon where you can.

Use the sentence stems on your screen if you wish to write in the beginning of your article, explaining your point of view on the statement on your screen.

Well done.

I'd like you to self-assess your writing now.

Check a mark, if you like, with a different colour pen, that you've used at least one semi semicolon accurately, that you've got a range of different sentence structures in your writing, and that you've included some of those rhetorical devices, maybe direct address, emotive language, or rhetorical questions.

Well done, if you've done all of those things.

Thank you for your focus, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your learning today.

Please don't forget to complete the quiz at the end of the lesson.