Experts reveal semicolons are at risk of dying out; do YOU know how to use the once-popular punctuation mark?
The age-old semicolon is dying out as Britons admit to never or rarely using the punctuation mark, a study has found.
In English-written 19th century literature it appeared once in every 205 words, but today it is down to one in every 390 words.
The survey found that 67 per cent of British students never or rarely used a semicolon and only 11 per cent of respondents described themselves as frequent users.
While more than half of respondents did not know or understand how to use the punctuation marl correctly.
A semicolons use is to connect two parts of a sentence where a conjunction is omitted, such as 'The cat sat on the mat; the mice watched from behind the sofa'.
It should be used between two main clauses that balance each other—or contradict each other—but are too closely linked to be written as separate sentences.
The MailOnline style guide advises it is mainly used in lists (eg 'The band's unusual backstage requests included: only green M&Ms waitresses dressed as Stormtroopers; and a retired astronaut'). The last item is preceded by a semicolon and has the word 'and' at the beginning.
Lisa McLendon authored the research and wrote an entire book dedicated to the punctuation: Semicolon: How a Misunderstood Punctuation Mark Can Improve Your Writing, Enrich Your Reading and Even Change Your Life.
She said: 'The semicolon is a place where our anxieties and our aspirations about language, class and education are concentrated.
'In this small mark, big ideas are distilled down to a few winking drops of ink.'
Esteemed 20th century feminist author Virginia Woolf famously opened her modern classic Mrs Dalloway with a plethora of semicolons.
While American author Kurt Vonnegut has called to abolish the punctuation mark: 'If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be a homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts. But do not use semicolons.
'They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.'
The semicolon originated in Venice in 1494, invented by the printer and publisher Aldus Manutius.
It was designed as a hybrid punctuation mark to combine elements of a comma and a colon in order to to represent a pause that fell between the length of a comma and a colon.
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For a December 2024 Jeju Air flight, a 737 plane that slammed into a concrete barrier and burst into flames, the 'miracle seats' happened to be crew spots at the back of the plane - quite far from the general location Ramesh's seat would have been on that flight. A 737 is a small plane with a single aisle with two rows, while a 787 has a dual aisle and three rows of seating. Some experts say this can make a difference in some crashes. In the instance of a water landing, you're more likely to find a miracle seat on a single aisle aircraft because their fuselages are slightly more rigid and less likely to tear apart on impact. One prime example is the 2009 'Miracle on the Hudson' crash, when an Airbus A320 crash landed on the Hudson River fully intact after a bird strike caued engine failure. All 78 aboard survived. 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