Use a semicolon to separate two independent clauses — i.e., two sentences that work on their own — which are closely sequential:

“I finished a painting today; it went better than I thought it would.”

Or in order to separate items in a series that would be particularly unwieldy with only commas, often because the items contain commas:

“Today I ate three desserts: a tiny cookie, which was free with my espresso; a bigger cookie, which was unfortunately a little dry; and a milkshake, which maybe took things too far.”

(Adapted from Lauren Oyler, “The Case for Semicolons,” NYTimes, 2-9-21)

“Write beautifully what people don’t want to hear.” (Frederick Seidel)

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