SEMICOLON

Study the following sentences:

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• George’s family business was bad; he couldn’t afford to go to college.
• He was quite helpless; he decided to end his life by jumping into the river.
• It’s a Wonderful life is a great movie; it shows the importance of each person’s life.

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Sometimes called a strong comma, the semicolon is used:

1. To separate independent clauses not joined by words such as and, but, so, or, etc.

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Independent Clause; Independent Clause.

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Love is like measles; we all have to go through it. (J.K. Jerome)

2. To separate items in a series that contain commas.

-He has lived in Covina, California; Reno, Nevada; Prague, Oklahoma; and Bangor, Maine.