Question

But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with that preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have. It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. At that age I was not squeamish about killing animals, but I had never shot an elephant and never wanted to. (Somehow it always seems worse to kill a large animal.) Besides, there was the beast's owner to be considered. Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds. Dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly. But I had got to act quickly. I turned to some experienced-looking Burmans who had been there when we arrived, and asked them how the elephant had been behaving. They all said the same thing: he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.

-"Shooting An Elephant" by George Orwell
Read the passage and choose which answer choice correctly implements a semi-colon in the italicized sentence.

A) Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds; dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly.
B) Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds. Dead; he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly.
C) Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds. Dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks; five pounds, possibly.
D) Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds and; dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly.

Answer 1

A) Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds; dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly.

Step-by-step explanation:

Semicolons are used to indicate a pause longer than that of a comma, but shorter thant that of a period.

When you have two independent clauses whose ideas are closely related, the semicolin is commonly use to link both clauses

Let's see every sentence.

B) Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds. Dead; he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly.

The pause after "Dead" should be equal as the pause after Alive. The comma after Alive is correctly used because that is a very short pause. Thus, after Dead there should be a comma, not a semicolon.

C) Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds. Dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks; five pounds, possibly.

What comes after "tusks" is a further detail (explanation) about what the value of the tusks could be; thus, there should be a comma not a semicolon.

D) Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds and; dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly.

Using a semicolon after "and" is a msitake because you should not add a pause after the conjunction.

The first sentence, A) Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds; dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly, correctly implements the semicolon after the first clause, to link with the second clause, with an intermediate pause.