#semicolon

in place of a period: link two independent but related clauses, without a coordinating conjunction (eg. and, but) → Sara lost her glasses; she needs them to get around.

in place of a comma: when a long sentence has several clauses, a semicolon can help distinguish meaning, including if there is a coordinating conjuction → As Sara attempted to navigate public transport, with her eyes squinted and using her phone camera’s zoom to read the display, she tried to call her optometrist to make an appointment; but his number and office hours had only recently changed, so she had little luck.

in relation with adverbs and short phrases like however, indeed, thus, in that case, as a result, on the other hand, for example, that is → Her friend, Teddy, spotted Sara from across the hallway and tried to get her attention; she, however, didn’t recognize him and kept walking. 

before introductory expressions (for example, that is, namely) → Teddy and Sara agreed that they would go to the museum before the new exhibition ended; that is, if she would be able to see again by that time.

to separate phrases or items in a list that contain commas within themselves or are particularly long → When Sara got home she wrote a to do list for the week: get in touch with her optometrist, Dr. Wallace; maybe ask her mother for some money, considering the unexpected cost of the glasses; and text Teddy about the museum.

Note: unlike with commas and periods, a semicolon is placed outside of quotation marks → For her 20th birthday, Sara got a shirt reading “2020 vision”; she said it was funny, but has not been seen wearing it since.

"this user hopes you stay alive" userbox with a white semicolon.

As someone who has and is currently struggling with mental health problems and works in the medical field, the talks that Robby had between Abbot, Duke, and Langdon felt right. They felt real and concise. But what really hit me was the scene at the end with Baby Jane Doe. Robby's monologue to the baby hit me so hard that I am still crying. I felt like he was talking to me. I felt seen.

This one is personal: My very dearest of friends tried to cash in her chips in 1996 with a cabinet of medication, a quantity that would take down an elephant, and when she drove herself to the hospital they didn't believe her she'd taken that much for that reason. They checked her into the psych ward for about a week after they got her stomach pumped so she could get her head cleared, and during that time her best friend / my college roomie gave her this Mylar balloon on a stick.