Semicolon – a punctuation mark that connects two related main clauses, or is that only the half of it? The mark can now be seen in stores, as “Semikolon”, a brand of stationery products that combines utility and colour. On the internet, “semikolon;” is a web agency that uses it to stand for serious work that “dots the commas” as you would dot the i’s. And, to help address mental illness, “Project Semicolon” recognizes the will “to continue on”. As its website states, “A semicolon is used when an author could’ve ended a sentence but chose not to. You are the author and the sentence is your life.”
A mark that confuses as much as it assists, the semicolon has split intellectual camps. Kurt Vonnegut warned about using them: “All they do is show you’ve been to college.” Yet Abraham Lincoln saw their value, saying, “I have a great respect for the semicolon; it’s a useful little chap.” One small mark can start to mean a lot.
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