Question

Can I use a semicolon?

Sentence: With so many classes her energy was dedicated towards studying; her boyfriend was the least of her issues.


This isn't really my sentence, I changed it a lot since I don't want Turnitin to say I plagiarized from my own question :P But same idea, my topic is about cancer

Answer 1

You can if the second sentence is related the first one. In this case, you should use a conjunction after semicolon.

Answer 2

I'd use a dash here, like this --

With so many classes, her energy was dedicated to studying -- her boyfriend was
the least of her issues.

Notice also the comma and the revision of "towards" to "to." You dedicate yourself *to* something, not *toward* it. (You direct yourself toward [or towards] something. That may be what you're thinking of.)

A semicolon wouldn't really work here because of the relationship between the two sentences. The semicolon says you take the two sentences and weigh them together: they're equal. They're generally balanced in terms both of syntax and meaning. They often compare and contrast.

Like this --

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.

Artistic passion is necessary to genius; inartistic passion hinders it.

The titles that medical paraprofessionals are given may differ; the
complexity of their duties is the same.

You also use the semicolon with a whole class of words called "conjunctive adverbs." These are words like "however" and "moreover" and "otherwise" and "therefore." With these words, you have the choice of bringing the two statements together or setting them up as individual sentences.

Like this --

You should get your brakes fixed; otherwise, you might have an accident.

You should get your brakes fixed. Otherwise, you might have an accident.

Answer 3

Great explanation thank you very much

Answer 4

You're welcome. Glad it helped. :)