ClearTips: Stunning sentences
Semicolons
Semicolons join independent clauses without
using a conjunction, binding two or more closely related ideas that are
ideally parallel in construction. They cause a pause longer than a comma,
shorter than a period. Some writers use them to link closely related clauses
in a paragraph, to distinguish them from looser clauses and ideas.
The benefits to Africa are obvious; the benefits to
America are also obvious.
A semicolon at its best, slamming together two
parallel ideas and constructions.
Breeding racehorses along these lines is sensible;
breeding rulers, to the modern mind, is not.
Brazilians first contemplated a new, inland capital
in 1789; the name Brasilia was first suggested in 1822; yet construction
did not start until 1956.
The emblems of American mass culture have infiltrated
the remotest outposts: the Coca-Cola logo is on street corners from
Kazakhstan to Bora-Bora; CNN emanates from television sets in more
than 200 countries; there are more 7-Eleven stores in Japan than
in the United States.
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