Semikolon – En mellemting mellem punktum og komma

Semikolon bruges mere på engelsk end på dansk – særligt i teknisk og videnskabeligt sprog. Det er en mellemting mellem et komma og et punktum.

Semikolon bruges primært i to situationer. For det første for at vise, at to tematisk forbundne hovedsætninger hører sammen. Et eksempel: Reproduction is a characteristic of all living systems; because no individual organism lives forever, reproduction is essential to the continuation of all species. Her sættes semikolon mellem den første helsætning (Reproduction is a characteristic of all living system) og den efterfølgende sætning, fordi de to sætninger handler om det samme. Bemærk kommaet efter den ledsætning (because no individual organism lives forever), der indleder den anden hovedsætning. Så semikolon bruges altså mellem hovedsætninger, der forbindes med bindeord (her because). Man kunne i stedet have sat et punktum, men semikolon er bedst, fordi det understreger at sætningerne handler om det samme.

Semikolon kan også bruges mellem to hovedsætninger, der ikke er forbundet med et bindeord, når bare de er tematisk forbundne– fx: The titles that medical paraprofessionals are given may differ; the complexity of their duties is the same, however. Man kan godt udelade nogle af ordene i den anden sætning, fordi de er underforståede og sætte et komma i stedet for et udsagnsord. I eksemplet: To err is human; to forgive, devine erstatter kommaet før devine udsagnsordet is.

For det andet bruges semikolon i stedet for komma ved opremsning mellem led eller serier i hvilke, der allerede indgår elementer/led adskilt af komma, fx: The School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University has several departments: The Department of Art, History, Aesthetics & Culture; the Department of Comparative Literature and Rhetoric; and the Department of English, among others.

Hvad kan du gøre?

Sæt semikolon mellem to sætninger, hvis du vil understrege, at de er tematisk forbundne. Sæt også semikolon for at adskille serier af led, der er indbyrdes adskilt med komma

Øvelse:

Tjek brug af komma, semikolon og punktum. Ret om nødvendigt: 1. She works all day as a nurse in a retirement home, in addition she is studying in the evenings to become a doctor. 2. Dr Petersen is a Danish researcher. However, he lives in Greenland. 3. Thousands of mites crossed the barrier from region A to region B every hour; therefore it was not possible to count all of them. 4. Our main findings were that uninsured patients are most likely to visit the emergency room for their health care needs, that children, the elderly, and the unemployed are the groups most affected by lack of insurance, and that the uninsured are a heavy burden on hospitals. 5. The first dog had an unusual deformity secondary to premature closure of the distal ulnar physis. The second dog had a hypertrophic nonunion of the femur. 6. The intervention group and the control group were randomly assigned 59 and 61 patients

Svarmuligheder:

1. She works all day as a nurse in a retirement home; in addition, she is studying in the evenings to become a doctor. 2. Dr Petersen is a Danish researcher; however, he lives in Greenland. 3. Thousands of mites crossed the barrier from region A to region B; therefore, it was not possible to count all of them. 4. Our main findings were that uninsured patients are most likely to visit the emergency room for their health care needs; that children, the elderly, and the unemployed are the groups most affected by lack of insurance; and that the uninsured are a heavy burden on hospitals. 5. The first dog had an unusual deformity secondary to premature closure of the distal ulnar physis; the second, a hypertrophic nonunion of the femur. 6. The intervention group was randomly assigned 59 patients; the control group, 61 patients.