In my work I see writers struggle with certain punctuation marks again and again. The culprits are semi-colons :, em dashes—, and the ubiquitous comma ,. Like me don’t you wonder who the heck came up with all these rules?

But all grousing aside, they’re brilliant little traffic signs and help move readers through text.

Here’s a simple, but elucidating guide to using semi-colons from Merriam-Webster.

If you’d like to learn more about a lexicographer’s gig working for Merriam-Webster, I can heartily endorse Kory Stamper’s memoir Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries. It’s fascinating, fun, witty, and might make a great gift for the word nerd on your holiday shopping list.  And here’s more information about the book from The New Yorker. Stamper also hosts videos at several sites online.