• Landless2029@lemmy.world
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      10 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.
      • argon@lemmy.today
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        10 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.