<p>I'm really confused in general about when to use a comma or a semi- colon.</p>
<p>Someone told me one of them pertains to creating a fragment, the other does not? Something along those lines</p>
<p>and I tried looking at websites, but they're so wordy, and thus, confusing. </p>
<p>thanks so much!</p>
<p>Apparently it’s impressive if you’re able to effectively use a semi colon in your writing.</p>
<p>Semicolon is used when you are trying to connect two independent clauses. A comma is used when you connect a dependent clause with an independent clause</p>
<p>Punctuation isn’t tested on the SAT.</p>
<p>Using a semi-colon is one way to join two independent clauses in a single sentence; this sentence shows a semi-colon used that way.</p>
<p>Each of the clauses in that sentence (all the stuff before the semi-colon, and all the stuff after it) could stand alone as a sentence. That’s what it means when we say they are independent clauses. Because the ideas expressed in those clauses are closely related, I chose to join them into a single sentence, with the two independent clauses separated by a semi-colon.</p>
<p>The use of a semi-colon is one way to join two independent clauses in a sentence, but it is not the only way to do so.</p>
<p>This sentence also contains two independent clauses: The use of a semi-colon is one way to join two independent clauses in a sentence, and it is not the only way to do so. In this sentence, however, I have separated the two independent clauses with a comma and a conjunction.</p>
<p>What you can’t normally do, however, is to separate two independent clauses using only a comma. That creates a grammatical error that people call a comma splice.</p>
<p>Perfect explanation ^</p>
<p><-- English teacher. But thanks, Johnny.</p>