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We had to cancel the party: too many people were sick.
The semicolon is half way between a comma and a colon. We
sometimes use a semicolon instead of a full stop or period. This is to
separate sentences that are grammatically independent but that have
closely connected meaning.
Josef likes coffee; Mary likes tea.
2. Use a semicolon as a kind of "super comma". When we have
a list of items, we usually separate the items with commas. If the list is
complicated, we may prefer to use semi-colons in some cases.
ABC Investments has offices in five locations: Kensington,
London; Brighton & Hove; and Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester.
The apostrophe is a raised comma. Use an apostrophe
in possessive forms:
the ball of the boy → the boy's ball
2. Use an apostrophe in contracted forms (the apostrophe
shows that letters have been left out):
cannot → can't
they have → they've
Certain words are sometimes written with an apostrophe (to
show that they are really a shortened form of the original, longer
word):
influenza → 'flu (or flu)
telephone → 'phone (or phone)
Some people use an apostrophe when the first two figures of a
year are left out:
1948 → '48
3. You can use an apostrophe to show the plural of letters and
numbers:
You should dot your i's and cross your t's.
Do you like music from the 1950's?
You can use an apostrophe to show a plural form for words
that are not normally plural:
Your plan is good, even if there are lots of if's and but's in it.

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