Semicolons; or, The Winking Mark

Semicolons, when they’re not winking at you, can be a useful punctuation mark. Some writers are fans of the mark; others could do without it. But whatever you think of semicolons, it can be helpful to know how they’re used.

Take the quiz to test your semicolon knowledge (and, perhaps, to learn more).

Subscribers to The Chicago Manual of Style Online may click through to the linked sections of the Manual (cited in most of the answers). (We also offer a 30-day free trial of CMOS Online.)

Note: Style guides sometimes disagree. Except for a few details that can be verified in standard dictionaries and encyclopedias and other readily available sources, the answers in this quiz rely on the information in The Chicago Manual of Style.

Now updated to refer and link to the 18th edition.

Chicago Style Workout 64: Semicolons

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1. A semicolon between two independent clauses can usually be replaced by a

period

comma

2. When a coordinating conjunction (e.g., and, but, or, so, yet) joins two independent clauses, a semicolon should never be used instead of a comma before the conjunction.

True

False

3. A “however” in the middle of a sentence should always be preceded by a semicolon.

True

False

4. Other than their use between independent clauses, semicolons are primarily useful as

a mark of sophistication

an alternative to commas in a complex series

5. Which of the following two novels features more semicolons?

Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

6. According to the OED, which mark of punctuation was mentioned earlier in a published source?

colon

semicolon

7. In a back-of-the-book index, semicolons are used as separators between

multiple “see also” cross-references to other entries

page numbers

8. Semicolons are more likely to appear in a bibliography or reference list for which field?

the humanities

the sciences

9. In Greek, a semicolon would signal

a question

an exclamation

10. The first edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (1906) advised placing a semicolon before (inside) a closing quotation mark in the manner of a comma or a period.

True

False

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Top image: Microsoft’s Segoe UI Emoji font rendering of Winking Face (eyes and eyebrows replaced for post with a Calibri semicolon rotated ninety degrees counterclockwise).

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