If you have a continuous list of cities, followed by their corresponding states, such as Chicago, Illinois, Dallas, Texas, Appleton, Wisconsin, what would be the right way to separate them?
1 Answer
A list that uses multiple commas can be separated by using semicolons between each list item.
Explanation:
Sometimes, you need to make a list of items or phrases separated by commas, but when these items also include commas, the correct way to separate the items is by using semicolons. See the examples below:
These cities are included in the question: Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; and Appleton, Wisconsin.
He enjoyed three things in life: fighting, or trying to fight as best he could; petting nice dogs, when he could find a dog to pet, that is; and solving math problems.
You can see that in the above examples, the semicolon replaces the commas needed for making a list. It's important to remember that this method should only be used when the items you are trying to separate already include commas.
