<u>1. To Join Two Independent Clauses in a Sentence </u> The first is to separate what are technically called independent clauses. Just think of these as complete sentences—they have a subject and a verb, and they could stand alone as sentences of their own. Take these two sentences, for instance:
• Jeff is tall. • Bill is short.
These are complete sentences, and to join them together into one sentence, we have to use a semicolon:
• Jeff is tall; Bill is short.
We cannot use ONLY a comma, as this would create what's called a <em>comma splice. </em>(We could use a comma AND a conjunction like and or but, but not just a comma by itself.)
• WRONG: Jeff is tall, Bill is short • RIGHT: Jeff is tall, but Bill is short. • RIGHT: Jeff is tall, and Bill is short. • RIGHT: Jeff is tall; Bill is short.
<u>2. (Sometimes) to Separate Items in a List </u> The second way to use semicolons is to separate items in a list. Normally we just do this we commas, like this:
• There are three types of tree in the orchard: apple, fig, and pear.
But sometimes commas can cause confusion in a list, especially if some of the items within that list have commas of their own. For instance:
• Some of the world's most popular cities to visit are Paris, France, Rome, Italy, and London, England.
Here, it looks like my list contains six items (Paris AND France AND Rome AND Italy AND London AND England.) But really it contains only three items (Paris, France AND Rome, Italy AND London, England), and to clarify that fact I can use semicolons:
• Some of the world's most popular cities to visit are Paris, France; Rome, Italy; and London, England.
Here, it's clear that I mean to have three cities, and not six places, in my list.
Every place and every countries have different social philosophy and ideals that the people of that places follow.
In some of the countries, the elderly person or the aged person are highly respected and highly valued. This is because they are respected because of their high experience of life and other work. They have seen the world and understand its mechanism of how society works. The elderly persons are full of resources and knowledge and it is important we learn form them.
In other countries, the younger people and the youths are mostly given respect and are highly valued than the elderly person. The younger people are full of energy and zeal to do new activities and other works. They are highly motivated and can quickly grasp things. So, in some laces the youths are highly valued.
