What are semicolons?

If there's one piece of punctuation that generates the most confusion, it would have to be the semicolon.

Because its name contains the word "colon", many students reasonably assume that it functions similarly to a colon. However, the semicolon is actually a hybrid between a comma and a period, and is used to signify a pause which is longer than a comma's, yet shorter than a period's.

In short, semicolons are used to connect two independent clauses which are closely related. For example, "I look forward to spending time with my family; they always know how to make me laugh" is an example of a properly used semicolon as both clauses are independent and related.

It is crucial that students have a basic understanding of semicolons as their use is frequently tested on both the SAT and SHSAT. Fortunately, they're not that complicated so long as a student is able to distinguish between independent and dependent clauses.