I can say for certain that many, if not most, of my students don't  
use semicolons correctly most of the time. I don't think it is  
because teachers think they can't, and they therefore feel insecure;  
I think it is because they were never taught. When I query my classes  
about whether or not they had grammar training, only 3 or 4 raise  
their hands.

My students use semicolons to introduce a list, and they often put it  
after "however" instead of before it. To my recollection, they don't  
often use it to separate main clauses. I haven't studied this  
formally, but I do have an item on my Editing Tips web page on  
semicolons -- this is how persistent the problem is. I do often  
advise that my students simply not use them until they learn the rules.

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Dept.
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

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