Semicolon in a Series When Items Contain Commas
The Semicolon
Rulebase Summary
Use semicolons (instead of commas) to separate items in a series when the individual items already contain commas. This prevents confusion about where one item ends and the next begins. Common situations include lists of cities with states, dates with amounts, people with identifying descriptions, and multiple objections with their grounds.
Examples
A. I lived in Houston, Texas, Portland, Oregon, and Denver, Colorado.
A. I lived in Houston, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and Denver, Colorado.
Semicolons separate items that already contain commas.
A. Present were Dr. Simmons, the surgeon, Nurse Watkins, the charge nurse, and Mr. Cole, the patient.
A. Present were Dr. Simmons, the surgeon; Nurse Watkins, the charge nurse; and Mr. Cole, the patient.
Semicolons prevent confusion when list items have internal commas.
Transcript Notes
The logic is that when there is an internal comma or other mark of punctuation within one member of the series, it will not always be clear where the series divides or how many parts there are. Semicolons separate the members of the main series. A common error is putting semicolons only where the 'extra' comma is and leaving the rest of the series with simple commas — if there is just one comma inside a member, each member of the series needs to be separated by a semicolon.
Style Guide References (5)
Morson's
BGGP
BGGP
BGGP
BGGP