Semicolons Separating Items in a Series

Use a semicolon between items in a series which already contain commas.

When there are already commas within items in a series, a semicolon more clearly separates each item. The semicolon provides a greater barrier than commas and is necessary to indicate another level of organization when commas have already been used.

Here are three examples of the effective use of semicolons to separate items in a series:

In the past five years we have lived in Buffalo, New York Woodbury, Connecticut Fullerton, California and Palatine, Illinois.

In my grandfather's trunk in the attic, I found ornate dinnerware by Wedgewood, Mikasa, and Royal Doulton glittering stemware by Waterford, Baccarat, Orrefors and silver flatware by Sterling, Oneida, and Towle.

The three people most responsible for the huge success of the charity ball were Dan Grochala, president of the Jaycees Helen Schultz, mayor of Chrystal Beach and Doug Markott, owner of Markott's Baseball Emporium.

In each of the examples above, a semicolon appears where one item in the series ends and the next begins. Additionally, when the elements within the items comprise a series, the elements are separated by commas according to the rules for using commas to separate elements of a series.