POLISHING UP YOUR PUNCTUATION / 37 Using commas in direct speech Always use a comma to separate direct speech from the rest of the sentence unless a question mark or an exclamation mark has been used. There will be more about direct speech in the next chapter. He pleaded, ‘Let’s go to McDonalds.’ ‘I can’t,’ she replied. The semicolon is a useful punctuation mark although it is not used a great deal. It can be used when you don’t feel you need a full stop; usually the second statement follows closely on to the first one. Don’t use a capital letter after a semi- colon. It was growing very dark; there was obviously a storm brewing. The idea of ‘a storm’ follows closely the ‘growing very dark’. A full stop is not necessary but don’t be tempted to use a comma. A semicolon can be used to separate groups of statements which follow naturally on from one another: The storm clouds gathered; the rain started to fall; the thunder rolled; the lightning flashed. A semicolon can also help to emphasise a statement: MAKING USE OF THE SEMICOLON, THE COLON AND THE DASH Using the semicolon