Commas, semicolons and colons - Learners' Questions

Dan Hi guys! Dan for BBC Learning English here

with this week's Learner Question. Find out what it is after this.

OK! This week's learner question comes from Hany from Germany, who asks: in the German

language, we put the comma before the relative pronoun. Does this apply to the English language?

What about the semicolon and colon and their usage? Wow, Hany. Punctuation question, eh?

Pretty difficult.

Well, commas are used in relative clauses, but only in non-defining relative clauses.

These are the relative clauses which give extra information to the main clause. For

example, Sarah, who lives opposite me, often accompanies me to work. Or, this book, which

is in French, needs to be translated.

Commas are also used in lists to separate items. But we don’t put a comma between

the last two. For example, I need an apple, a banana, a car, a dog and an egg.

Like commas, semicolons can be used to separate items in a list. But this is more common where

the items are complex. For example, I need an apple from Spain; a banana which isn’t

too soft; a car that hasn’t been driven on a Monday; a dog who’s only got three

legs… etc.

Finally, we use colons to introduce the lists themselves. They are the punctuation which

precedes the list. We can also use colons to introduce quotations or direct speech.

For example, the prime minister said: “There is no need to panic.”

I hope that answers your question Hany. Thank you very much for writing to us. If anybody

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