The semicolon is used just like a period – to show that you have completed a thought. The only difference between a period and and semicolon is that a period comes at the end of a sentence, and a semicolon comes in the middle of a sentence. When you have two complete thoughts that relate to the same idea, you can end the first thought with a semicolon and the second thought with a period.
Simple sentence: Bob has a cat.
Simple sentence: Sarah has three dogs.
Join the two simple sentences with a semicolon, and end with a period:
Bob has a car; Sarah has three dogs.
Here are more examples of the semicolon used in the middle of a sentence as stop punctuation:
Today it is raining; tomorrow the sun will shine.
Dad washed the car; Mom weeded the garden.
A high school diploma is important; a college degree is even more helpful.
Use a semicolon as stop punctuation to end a simple sentence when it is being joined with a second simple sentence.
It’s your turn. Combine these two simple sentences into one sentence, using a semicolon as stop punctuation for the first sentence and a period for stop punctuation after the second sentence. Mary invited me to a ballgame. I’m glad that she’s my friend. Did you figure it out? Good for you.