Greetings!
Semicolons are very confusing for most people! Here are some guidelines:
Use semicolons to join independent clauses that do not have coordinating conjunctions like and, or, but, nor, for, so, yet. These sentences may or may not contain words like "however," "moreover," "thus," and "therefore," as connectors. For example:
With a connector:
Students are often confused about how to use semicolons; however, they usually find it is not as difficult as they thought at first. (Notice you put a comma after the connector, "however.")
Without a connector:
Students are often confused about how to use semicolons; this means they tend to avoid using them at all.
As you can see by the above example, you could just as easily make it into two sentences by using a period instead of a semicolon. Usually, a period works just as well, if not better.
Semicolons can also be used to separate long or complicated items in a series which already includes commas:
The students were Carrie Wilson, music major; Peter Moss, IT wizard; Sheryl Flanders, Greek history; and Victor Charleson, graduate in psychology.
I have recommended you study punctuation because it will help you communicate with other students, faculty, and employers; allow you to write better essays, research papers, and articles; and ultimately, to make better grades.
Less often, you may see it used when using a comma would be confusing in joining two long or complex independent clauses containing a coordinating conjunction:
By the end of the semester, students will have learned how to use puntuation, to spell-check all their work, and to get their papers in on time; and, if they complete all the assignments, they will have earned a good grade.
The hyphen is used in some compound words and is also used to connect prefixes and suffixes to main words:
Forty-seven; pro-life; father-in-law
I suspect, however, that what you are really asking about is the em-dash. It can be made by typing two hyphens--like this--and in most word processor programs these days, it will automatically be converted into one longer dash. It is used to put a strong break--such as this one--in the middle of a sentence, to provide addtional explanation or emphasis.
If you have more questions about these, there are many online sites that explain punctuation marks. Please let me know if I can be of more help!
Thanks,
Sarah, EssayForum.com
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