When The Independent published Helen Coffey’s passionate eulogy for the semicolon – that misunderstood and underappreciated jewel of English punctuation – the reaction from our readers was unexpectedly large.
It seems grammar still has the power to stir the public imagination, especially when the supposed death of a punctuation mark is at stake.
As Coffey lamented, this once-stylish symbol of sentence sophistication is fast vanishing from our written language.
According to recent studies, semicolon usage in books has halved in the last 25 years, and the majority of British students say they either rarely use it or don’t understand it at all.
Blame the education system, blame texting culture, blame writer Kurt Vonnegut if you like. But the outcome is the same: grammatical confidence is waning, and with it, the subtle elegance that careful punctuation can lend to our words.
And so, inspired by the debate, we have devised this grammar quiz – not to shame, but to sharpen.
It’s a mix of light and challenging questions to test your command of everything from subject–verb agreement to relative clauses, and yes, the semicolon makes an appearance.
Whether you’re a closet grammar nerd or someone who last heard the word “subjunctive” in a French lesson, we invite you to dive in.
Who knows? You might even come away feeling bold enough to reclaim the semicolon – not as a pretentious relic, but as what it truly is: a chic, timeless bridge between thoughts. Let us know how you did in the comments.
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