Recently, my company started issuing our New Media reports with a much more journalistic touch; thus, I decided now would be a good time to review the use of the oft ignored semicolon. There are three main uses I found.
1) To connect two main clauses that are closely related.
ex: The Dallas Mavericks are the best team in the NBA; they have the best chance of winning the championship this year given their depth.
ex: The concert was brilliant; the crowd gave the band a standing ovation.
2) To connect a series of items that contain commas.
ex: The room was crowded with the usual cast of characters. There was Justin, an ethical and sometimes brilliant pool player; Brandon, a German loving rock climber; and Micah, an unethical pool player but brilliant with Excel macros.
3) To separate two main clauses joined with conjunctive adverbs such as also, anyways, hence, however, instead, next, therefore, and thus.
ex: This has been a boring post; however, semicolon usage needs to be reviewed periodically in order to prevent repetitive sentence structures.
