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Year 6 · English · Colons, semi-colons and dashes · Lesson 2

Semi-colons

Semi-colons: joining related main clauses, separating complex list items, use with however/therefore, and fixing comma splices.

Whiteboard video lesson: Semi-colons

13-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

Watch free for a month

What your child will learn

  • Identify a semi-colon
  • Join two related main clauses
  • Use semi-colons in complex lists
  • Fix comma splices

The method

  1. Both main clauses?
  2. Closely linked?
  3. ; for the full stop.
  4. Lower case after.

Key words: semi-colon, main clause, comma splice, list.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

Draw a semi-colon.

  1. Step 1: Dot and comma

Answer: ;

Question 2

What does a semi-colon join?

  1. Step 1: Main...

Answer: two related main clauses

Question 3

Join: ‘It was late. We went home.’

  1. Step 1: ;

Answer: It was late; we went home.