Use of a complex sentence after a semicolon

Question

I haven't been able to break away from the traditional rules that elementary school engrained in me, so I was wondering if the sentence below is correct. It is a fusion of both a complex sentence (with a dependent and independent clause) and another sentence using a semicolon to link the two.

Conventionally (at least what my elementary school taught me), a sentence can be linked to another sentence by use of a semi-colon. However, does it also apply to complex sentences?

Example:

Conventional:
"I have a deathly fear of the dark. When I was young, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."

What I want to do:
"I have a deathly fear of the dark; when I was young, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."

Three questions:
1.) As long as the first sentence is short, can I link the normal sentence with the second, complex sentence? In other words, are both sentences grammatically correct?

2.) If the first sentence were longer, would I be better off separating the two sentences with a period?

3.) Can I link TWO complex sentences via a semicolon?
Example: "When I was young, I had a deathly fear of the dark; every night, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."

Thanks.

-rozarria

Edited to convey original poster's intended meaning.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,
I haven't been able to break away from the traditional rules that elementary school engrained in me, so I was wondering if the sentence below is correct. It is a fusion of both a complex sentence (with a dependent and independent clause) and another sentence using a semicolon to link the two.

Conventionally (at least what my elementary school taught me), a sentence can be linked to another sentence by use of a comma. You can't say 'I took the garbage out, the can was full'.
However, does it also apply to complex sentences?

Example:

Conventional:
"I have a deathly fear of the dark. When I was young, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."

What I want to do:
"I have a deathly fear of the dark; when I was young, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."

Three questions:
1.) As long as the first sentence is short, can I link the normal sentence with the second, complex sentence? In other words, are both sentences grammatically correct? Yes. ( It's one sentence, not two. )

2.) If the first sentence were longer, would I be better off separating the two sentences with a period? Yes, in my opinion.

3.) Can I link TWO complex sentences via a semicolon?
Example: "When I was young, I had a deathly fear of the dark; every night, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."
Yes.

It seems to me that the subtle meaning of the semi-colon starts to get 'lost' as the sentence gets more complicated.

My overall reaction is 'Why would you want to do this?'

Best wishes, Clive

Rozarria · Answer

Thank you, Clive. By the way, I first made this post anonymously before just making this account today. And I meant to say "a sentence can be linked to another sentence by use of a semicolon." Sorry about that embarrassing brainfart. Everyone knows that!

Your closing question to me was, "Why would you want to do this?"

I don't mean to deliberately over-complicate my sentences, but in my particular case, I don't feel that the sentence I am trying to write would sound cohesive and aesthetically appealing unless it were written this way. This is the actual context from which I derived my question:

"A tiny gleam caught the corner of Absalom's eye; for a moment, the sun had escaped from behind the clouds as it dipped below the treeline."

I am relating Absalom's observation of a tiny light speck to his discovery that the speck is coming from the sun, which has managed to briefly permeate its light through the clouds. I feel that using a period would be too hard of a stop. What do you think, Clive?

Thanks,
rozarria

Cbsteh · Answer

Let me try:
A semicolon is used to link two independent clauses together, with no connecting words (such as but, so, and, for). Though the two clauses are independent, they describe a closely related idea. It is not so much the length of the sentence that decides whether we should use a period, comma or semicolon.
Your given sentences are correct, with or without the semicolons. For me, I would choose to write without the semicolons.
So I prefer
"I have a deathly fear of the dark. When I was young, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."
or
"I have a deathly fear of the dark because when I was young, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."
rather than
"When I was young, I had a deathly fear of the dark; every night, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."
or
"I have a deathly fear of the dark; when I was young, my grandparents would tell me scary stories."

Note that some writers such as Kurt Vonnegut strongly disagree the use of any semicolons.
Chris

Clive · Answer

Hi,

"A tiny gleam caught the corner of Absalom's eye; for a moment, the sun had escaped from behind the clouds as it dipped below the treeline."

I am relating Absalom's observation of a tiny light speck to his discovery that the speck is coming from the sun, which has managed to briefly permeate its light through the clouds. I feel that using a period would be too hard of a stop. What do you think, Clive? What you wrote seems fine. It's a matter of literary interpretation, ie you are the writer so you get to choose.

Best wishes, Clive

BarbaraPA · Answer

I hope you don't mind, but I've edited your first post to say what you mean so someone doesn't come along, read only the first post, and jump in with a "correction" to your statement that was a simple mistake.

Rozarria · Answer

Not at all, Grammar Geek! Thanks! Thanks again for the input, Clive and Chris.

-rozarria

Anonymous · Answer

1) If you are linking two parts with a semicolon, it is still just one sentence.

Anonymous · Answer

Grammatically it is correct, but my personal view in terms of effectiveness, would be to either remove the fronted adverbial of time and use the semi-colon or keep the fronted as adverbial, but as a new sentence.

Artist's choice though.

Use of a complex sentence after a semicolon

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