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I'm guilty of comma abuse, and have to watch myself carefully. I tend to group thoughts together in my writing; this is a good habit in general since it helps with flow, but it also tends to leave me grasping for ways to join my thoughts together.
A semi-colon by my understanding is used to connect to inter-related but independent statements. Ex:
My dog is big. He eats a lot of kibble.
Becomes:
My dog is big; he eats a lot of kibble.
Both are complete (albeit simple) sentences. Joining them with a semi-colon allows the reader to transition more smoothly from one to the next.
Everyone's afraid of semi-colons and em dashes, but I think the comma is the most difficult piece of punctuation to use correctly.
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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said
- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame
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