What is semicolons?

;

The above punctuation mark is a semicolon.

There are three uses for the semicolon:

1. To join two independent clauses (complete sentences) that are closely related, showing that the two clauses are similar or are close in idea. It also shows a kind of cause and effect relationship between the two clauses.
2. To join two independent clauses when the second clause begins with a conjunctive adverb or a transitional phrase (therefore, however, as a result, in fact, etc.)
3. To separate items in a series when one or more of the items contain a comma.

The semicolon serves the same purpose as a coordinate conjunction. However, the semicolon is used sparingly whereas the coordinate conjunction may be used often.

Example:

I love dogs; they are so cute.

rather than writing-

"The police officer pulled up to the house that had just made a call to the police department. But the front door was locked and he was forced to kick it open."

You could write this-

"The police officer pulled up to the house that had just made a call to the police department; but the front door was locked and he was forced to kick it open."
A semicolon is a symbol that looks like this:

;