Love them or hate them (our proofreaders love them!!!), the semicolon is a tool in your grammar arsenal. This punctuation — ; — can be used to join two independent clauses together without using a conjunction such as “and.” You do not use a capital letter after a semicolon unless it’s a proper noun. They are stronger than a comma but not as hard-core as a period.
I’m going to the North Shore; the Pipeline Pro surf competition is on today.
You can also use semicolons for a complex serial list:
We have coverage areas in Safford, Arizona; Walla Walla, Washington; Portland, Maine; Boise, Idaho.
And with conjunctive adverbs!
- The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff; however, the defendant received some concessions.
- She passed her driving test; indeed, she will want to take the car out for a spin.
In general, feel free to use this punctuation liberally; we find it to always be a huge help.