Quick Help: Editing for semicolons

• Use semicolons only between independent clauses—groups of words that can stand alone as sentences—or between items in a series.
• If you find few or no semicolons in your writing, ask yourself whether closely related ideas in two sentences might be better expressed in one sentence with a semicolon.
• If you find too many semicolons in your writing, try deleting some of them. Would making some clauses into separate sentences make your writing smoother or less monotonous?