Semicolon usage

[Erik007]

My name is Erik and I am from Norway, and I am currently locked in a grammar dispute with a mate of mine regarding a very infamous punctuation--the semicolon. Having questioned numerous native English speakers about it, I still stand without a proper answer and my integrity is in tatters. As a result, I have come here to seek enlightenment.

 

My mate wrote the following sentence: "From the results we found that the lowest levelized cost of energy was achieved by dividing the transportation sector in to three technologies; 50% electric, 30% hydrogen and 20% methanol."

 

For the sake of argument, please disregard the sentence's other grammatical errors. The main question is: is the usage of that semicolon correct, or should a colon take its place instead?

 

Thank you for your assistance!

[宇崎ちゃん]

Not a native speaker, but I believe that a semicolon is used kind of in between a comma and a colon.
So you'd list stuff like with a colon, but don't separate a sentence like with a comma so to say.

I have apple, orange, and banana.
(Regular sentence)

I have 3 fruits:
・Apple
・Orange
・Banana
(Sentence followed by a list)

I have 3 fruits; apple, orange, and banana.
(List within a sentence)

[Gaarasslave]

Native speak here

Semicolons in general aren't used much but when they used they combine two independent clauses together without the use of a conjunction provided the two independent clauses relate to each other. ex. 'I take my dog on a walk everyday; she really enjoys them.'

You can also use them for list that have extra information and/or lists that need to be broken up more with commas. ex 'I bought some things at the store; a bunch of green bananas, fresh apples, and a lovely pineapple.

Where in comparison 'I bought some things at the store, bananas, apples and pineapples.'

Without the extra information the semicolon is not necessary

"From the results we found that the lowest levelized cost of energy was achieved by dividing the transportation sector in to three technologies; 50% electric, 30% hydrogen and 20% methanol."

Because this sentence has the percentages involved a semicolon would be completely acceptable, again semicolons in general aren't used much so use them so use them sparingly. Hope this helps

[Maryam_Yasmeen]

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