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A semicolon is used to separate two parts of a sentence that have a relationship to each other in terms of meaning when each part could stand alone as a sentence in its own right: The building is chiefly a tourist attraction; it is rarely used as a church these days.There is no proof that the disease is caused by agricultural use of this chemical; however, experts admit that there could be a link. Semicolons may also separate parts of a complex list when it would be confusing to use commas for this purpose: We invited Jack and Kate, who live next door; Maria, my sister-in-law; Tom, an old school friend of my husband's; and some of our colleagues from work. Like commas, semicolons are sometimes used to break up a lengthy complicated sentence, but it is often better and clearer to split the sentence up into smaller units.
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