EVENT || GRAMMAR GAME: SEMICOLONS

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

THE SEMICOLON

At a comma stop a little .... At a semicolon somewhat more.
Richard Hodges, The English Primrose, 1644

~*~

Welcome to our semicolon grammar game! The semicolon is perhaps the most feared and misunderstood punctuation mark in the English language. There's no need to panic, though, when trying to correctly utilize the semicolon. This little mark is utilitarian, easy to understand, and useful for creating smooth prose. I love, Love, LOVE semicolons!

There are four basic rules for semicolon usage. Let's review those guidelines, and then at the end of the session there will be sentences for you to practice your semicolon placements. This exercise is recreated and paraphrased from The Grammer Book and the 16th Edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.

1. The first rule of semicolon usage is to place a semicolon between two sentences where the conjunction has been left out, in place of a period. A conjunction is a word that joins sentences together, such as, and, but, or, yet, for, nor, and so.

Examples:

Floo to Diagon Alley tomorrow; I will meet you at the Leaky Cauldron.

Ludo Bagman paid George and Fred Weasley their Quidditch World Cup winnings in Leprechaun gold; the twins were ultimately left with no money.

2. The second rule of semicolon usage demonstrates how to use a semicolon before introductory words such as namely, however, therefore, that is, i.e., for example, e.g., or for instance when these words introduce a complete sentence.

Examples:

Harry will want to put a lot of supplies in Hermione's charmed beaded bag; for example, Essence of Dittany, the portrait of Phineas Nigellus, the Sword of Gryffindor, and a Sneak-a-scope will all make the trio's journey better.

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione discussed, Kreacher would complete two tasks; i.e. find Mundungus Fletcher and return him to Grimmauld place to answer questions.

3. Use the semicolon to separate units of a series when one or more of the units contain commas.

Examples:

The Polyjuice Potion is brewed with multiple ingredients, including lacewing flies; human hair; knotgrass picked at the full moon; and Boomslang skin.

4. Use the semicolon between two sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction when one or more commas appear in the first sentence.

Examples:

If Draco Malfoy becomes interested in collecting Muggle automobiles, Lucius Malfoy will leave Draco without a single Knut, Sickle, or Galleon to his name; and that's a promise Lucius has made publicly.

Hermione Granger-Weasley will sit the magical civil service exam in order to join the Ministry of Magic; if he's able, Ron will wait in the corridor for Hermione to finish.

~*~

Next are ten practice sentences for you to play with to get the feel for using the semicolon if it's a skill you feel you might need a little practice on.

Practice Sentences:

01. Neville practiced his dance steps for two weeks prior to the Yule Ball, however, he trod on Ginny's feet throughout the dance.

02. If elected president of S.P.E.W., Hermione has promised to teach all S.P.E.W. members to knit and how to strategically place the house-elf hats in places the elves might find them, as well as keep membership dues at two galleons, and those are line items she won't back down on.

03. Severus, in the midst of his victory, thought of all the imbecile DADA teachers that had come before him, such as Professor Quirrell, Professor Lockhart, Professor Lupin (especially), Professor Moody, and Professor Umbridge.

04. Madam Pomfrey has promised to bring chocolate and PepperUp Potion, and she always keeps her word.

05. Dumbledore always liked to say, 'Success isn't something demanded, but it is something earned.'

06. Griphook knew the sword Bellatrix had was a forgery, and it wasn't Goblin-made.

07. Right: There is no countercurse to Avada Kedavra, however you will find there are always exceptions to every rule, and one is sitting in this classroom.

08. Appearing on the "Gilderoy Lockhart: Fraud or Grossly Misunderstood Soul" debate panel tonight will be Harry Potter, Auror, Ministry of Magic, Molly Weasley, Order of the Phoenix member and homemaker, Griselda Marchbanks, Ministry Examiner, Filius Flitwick, Charms Professor and head of Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Phineas Nigellus, gregarious rococo oil portrait, former Hogwarts headmaster, pedant, and fashion commentator.

09. There were other factors, too: whether or not the Death Eaters knew they were a Grimmauld Place, the fact that the Slytherin locket Horcrux was a fake, the issue of Kreacher's loyalties, and the lack of news the trio was receiving from the outside. Although they didn't want to be so isolated, they weren't sure how to safely reconnect.

10. "At times actions fail to express the true meaning behind them, in fact they tend to hide it," said Lupin, grasping Harry's forearm in a show of support.

Complete this little semicolon quiz and mail your answers to slytherincess[at]gmail[dot]com, no later than Tuesday 14 August, 12:00 A.M. GMT. Winners will be announced Wednesday 15 August at the Go For the Gold closing ceremonies. Good luck!

Comments

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

Are we to mail you these practice sentences?

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Yes, I noted that in my last sentence :D The due date and time is there as well. I hope you'll play!

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

Yes, I saw that, but I have to complicate things. Since it called them 'practice sentences', I was thinking that those were to practice on before taking the quiz, which I didn't see. At any rate, they are on their way to you, right now. It was fun, even if I don't do well. Thanks BB! :)

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that confusion -- I definitely would have posted an additional quiz to go with the sentences if there were one. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear! Thank YOU for taking the quiz (or practice sentences, as it were!) <3

[skriftlig.livejournal.com]

Was there supposed to be a third rule somewhere? Anyway, this looks very interesting. Thanks for making it! :)

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Well, it was weird. If you go to the link called The Grammar Book above, you'll note that rules 2 and 3 (or maybe it's 3 and 4 ... I forget ... I'm officially braindead :P ) are exactly the same. So I meant to go back and change "five" to "four" and clearly just forgot to. So the correct answer is there are actually four rules for the purposes of this exercise. Thanks! :)

[lokifan]

I wrote a sonnet to the semi-colon once :D

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

You must post it! That is awesome! :D

[lokifan]

I did, yonks ago: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/49927.html