It is proved that real functions on $ℝ$ which can be represented as the difference of two semiconvex functions with a general modulus (or of two lower $C^1$-functions, or of two strongly paraconvex functions) coincide with semismooth functions on $ℝ$ (i.e. those locally Lipschitz functions on $ℝ$ for which $f_{+}^{\text{'}}\left(x\right)={lim}_{t\to x+}{f}_{+}^{\text{'}}\left(t\right)$ and $f_{-}^{\text{'}}\left(x\right)={lim}_{t\to x-}{f}_{-}^{\text{'}}\left(t\right)$ for each $x$). Further, for each modulus $\omega$, we characterize the class $DS{C}_{\omega }$ of functions on $ℝ$ which can be written as $f=g-h$, where $g$ and $h$ are semiconvex with modulus $C\omega$ (for some $C>0$) using a new notion of...