• @Landless2029
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      3 days ago

      I’ve always done this one:

      • Between closely related [independent clauses].

      • (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_clause “Independent clause”) not conjoined with a coordinating conjunction, when the two clauses are balanced, opposed or contradictory:[23].

        • My wife said she would like tea; coffee would have been my choice.
        • I went to the basketball court; it was closed for cleaning.
        • I told Kate she’s running for the hills; she knew I was joking.
      • @[email protected]
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        3 days ago

        Basically you use them at points where you’d usually put a period, but you don’t want to add as much of a pause.

        ETA:

        For example

        My wife said she would like tea; coffee would have been my choice.

        could also be written as

        My wife said she would like tea. Coffee would have been my choice.

        but it wouldn’t sound as nice.

        • @redhorsejacket
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          13 days ago

          While that may be true, you also put them in places that should have a comma, but you want more pause; this is why boiling it down to a single aphorism is difficult.

          For example, I’ve read most of the comments in this thread, as well as the Oatmeal info-comic that someone linked, and I still don’t know with certainty the semicolon I used above is grammatically appropriate.