Semicolon — ;

a.     Use sparingly.

b.     Use for a more important break in sentence flow than one marked by a comma. Use between two independent clauses not joined by a conjunction.

e.g. My uncle is going skiing in Hokkaido; I wish I could take holidays and go too.

c.      Use for complex sentences with commas already in use.

e.g. In her travels she visited Japanese castles in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara; she ate sushi in Sendai; and skied in Hokkaido.

d.     Use for emphasis.

e.g. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

e.     Use to separate references (particularly Bible references) when they contain internal punctuation.

e.g. Luke 1:1-5; 3:15; 5:12, 14, 16.

f.      Always place outside quotations marks and parentheses/round brackets.

e.g. Luther once called the book of James “the epistle of straw”; however, he wrote a brilliant commentary on it.