Claire passed the test with flying colours; Laura failed.‘Laura failed’ stands in stark contrast to the previous
sentence.
There is no reason why complex sentences should not also
use semicolons.
Because it was raining, they stayed indoors; they played
Scrabble.The first section contains a subordinate clause followed by a
main clause. The second one contains only a main clause.
Varying your sentences
Using a semicolon can provide variety in your writing. You
have a range of possible sentence patterns. Vary the length
of your sentences. Don’t make them too long. A simple
sentence can be effective if it follows a series of complex
ones. Sometimes a number of short sentences can be used to
build up suspense in a story. If you use complex sentences,
make sure they are constructed correctly.
You can also use a semicolon to separate a list of items when
these contain commas. In this case clauses are not used.
Those present at the conference were the Chairman of the
Governors, Mr Ken Regan; the Headmistress, Ms Judith
Ray; the Deputy, Mr John Smith; two members of staff,
Mrs Kay Winter and Mr Tom King.90 / IMPROVE YOUR PUNCTUATION & GRAMMAR