Semicolon Rules and Practice Sheets (free)
We are reviewing some of the basic grammar rules (again) and I wanted to share this sheet I made for the kids about semicolons. These sheets covered these 4 rules:
- Use a semicolon to join two or more closely related independent clauses that are not connected with a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so).
- Use a semicolon to join two closely related independent clauses that have a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so) if those clauses contain commas. The semicolon then “outranks” the commas.
- Use a semicolon before words such as therefore, thus, however, also, besides, finally, indeed, instead, meanwhile, moreover, namely, for example, for instance, nevertheless, next, still, then when the word introduces a complete sentence. These words should connect two independent clauses in a compound sentence. Be sure to use a comma after the conjunctive adverb.
- Use a semicolon to separate items in a list that contain commas.
There are also 15 practice sentences. The kids have to place the semicolons in the proper location and write down the rule that applies for each sentence. (I provided the answers, though they are not shown in the collage below.)
One more thing, I suggest that before your kids cover this material, they are competant with the 11 Comma Rules and can place commas correctly. You’ll find links to those (free) comma rules and practice sheets below.
These are free to download, but we’d love to hear from you if you found them useful. 🙂
Semicolon Rules and Practice Sheets
Other free grammar worksheets you can download from our website:
- 11 Comma Rules and Practice
- Comma Rules and Practice Worksheets
- I made a new set of comma rules and practice sheets for the kids that go over these same rules.
- Their, They’re, There – Its, It’s Free Practice Sheets
- Comma Rules and Practice Worksheets (Fall Theme)
- Grammar Practice: Possessive Nouns and Pronouns
- Free Grammar Worksheets: Homophones (words that sound the same, but are spelled differently)
- The use of apostrophes, quotation marks and underlining
- Grammar Practice Sheets: Irregular Verbs and Nouns
- More Irregular Verb and Plural Noun Practice Sheets
- Grammar Sheets: Lay-Lie, Piece-Peace, Accept-Except
Meanwhile, my first graders is working on these grammar/spelling activities:
You might also be interested in this post: Our Homeschool Language Arts, Spelling, and Grammar Curriculum
We’d love to hear from you if you found this useful. You can leave a note here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! ~Liesl
