How to Use a Semicolon Correctly: A Simple Guide for Writers (and Why It Still Matters)

From Edie: Confused about semicolons? Learn how to use a semicolon correctly with simple rules and examples—and discover why this punctuation mark still matters for writers today.

How to Use a Semicolon Correctly: A Simple Guide for Writers (and Why It Still Matters)

By Julie Lavender @JLavenderWrites

It’s endangered; it might possibly disappear altogether in the next handful of years. 

Do you know what “it” is? 

It is the SEMI-COLON.

Are Helping Verbs Really Helpful?

by Linda Gilden @LindaGilden

In school we learn about helping verbs, also called auxiliary verbs, and the support they are to other verbs. That is a good thing. Everyone needs a helper occasionally.

Maybe you have forgotten what those helping verbs are. Is, am, are, was, were, been, being, are the most common. Helping is not the only use of the helping verbs. Other times they are used as a complete predicate. Think of the way you function—sometimes you are a parent, other times you are a friend, sometimes in the spotlight and other times not. The function of the verb makes it a helper or not. Many times these verbs are functional and needed.