A semi-colon (;) marks a pause between two ideas that are equally important. The pause is shorter than for a full stop. A semi-colon replaces co-ordinating conjunctions, or linking words, such as: for, and, but, yet, so.

• The two ideas separated by a semi-colon may be closely related: They left immediately; there was no point in waiting. (You can check this by replacing the semi-colon with ‘and’, ‘for’ or ‘so’, and seeing if the sentence still makes sense.)
• They may also be opposite: He smiled at all the visitors; in his heart he wanted to cry. (You can check this by replacing the semi-colon with ‘but’ or ‘yet’, and seeing if the sentence still makes sense.)

Too many short sentences with full-stops can make it difficult to read something. But it is not wrong to use a full-stop instead of a semi-colon between ideas of equal importance, for example:

I’m exhausted; I think I’ll go home. OR I’m exhausted. I think I’ll go home.

Some writers use a dash (–) instead of a semi-colon, for example: I’m exhausted – I think I’ll go home.

A semi-colon also separates a list of phrases that already contain commas. This list may come after a colon (:). For example, The team included:  Junior, goalkeeper; Blessing, sweeper; Bandile, right winger; Siyabonga, midfielder; Lubanzi, left wing-back.