Summary
If you think a semicolon helps you digest food, it’s time for you to watch this BrainPOP movie! In it, Tim and Moby introduce you to a strange-looking but very important punctuation mark. Learn how to tell the difference between the semicolon and its grammatical cousin, the colon. Discover how semicolons can be used instead of words like “and,” “but” and “or” to join two separate but related sentences. And explore some other situations in which a semicolon is a writer’s best friend, from compound sentences with long main clauses to lists of items with internal commas. Once you’re done, there won’t be anything “semi” about your semicolon knowledge!
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
A few questions to talk through after watching Semicolons:
- What is one new thing you learned about semicolons?
- Can you explain it to a partner in your own words?
- Where might you see this in the real world?
- What is one question you still have?
Quick work-a-long
Try it:
- Write one sentence explaining semicolons.
- Draw or give one example of your own.