: How to punctuate the synonym to a word or phrase? I have a sentence: ... to further everyones agenda; revenge. Is this the correct punctuation? Or should the semicolon simply be a comma? I

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Firstly, don't put yourself down. Everyone has questions like this and sometimes the answers can be hard to find!

However, to answer your question, what you have isn't correct. Semicolons are used for a few reasons. The most common one is to separate things.

Two independent clauses (sentences that can stand alone) can be connected with a semicolon if they are closely related. Example:

I walked outside and immediately wished I had worn a coat; it was below freezing!

In your example, what appears after the semicolon can't stand as its own sentence.

Fixing it is easy. Replace the semicolon with a comma or a colon.

Check out Grammar Girl's website, quickanddirtytips.com, for help with anything grammatical. She has some great articles on this exact topic.

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