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Am I using the semicolon (;) right? thanks

To her, the papaya tree symbolizes two things; Vietnam and herself.

1 Answer

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Answer: No, the semicolon is used incorrectly.

Explanation: Semicolons are meant to be used when splitting two independent clauses that are closely related.

Example

Darling always loved apples; she used this as her thesis.

To her, the papaya tree symbolizes two things; Vietnam and herself.

Vietnam and herself is a dependent clause (if you made it into a sentence it would be a fragment), therefore cannot be paired with a semicolon.

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