Semicolons may be used to separate two related, independent clauses; however, they must be used alone, and without any accompanying conjunction. The sentence above incorrectly places the coordinating conjunction "and" after the semicolon. Replacing the semicolon with a comma, or deleting the coordinating conjunction would both grammatically correct this sentence. The best way to correct the underlined portion above is, I need to go to the dry cleaners; I also need to go and pick up some flowers for my wife.

Semicolons may be used to separate two related, independent clauses; however, they must be used alone, and without any accompanying conjunction. Commas with a conjunction and a semicolon are both grammatically correct options to join two independent clauses into one compound sentence; whichever you choose is a matter of personal writing style. The best way to correct the underlined portion above is, Emmett is one of the rudest human beings I have ever met, but I can't deny that he's a fascinating conversationalist when he wants to be.

Semicolons may be used to separate two related, independent clauses. Note though that semicolon must be used alone, and without any accompanying conjunction. The best way to correct the underlined portion above is, "Francois always struck me as a smarmy chap; several people seem to like him."

Semicolons link two independent clauses; the phrase "but now John was thinking of cutting it down" is not an independent clause. The use of "but" makes it dependent on the first clause, and means that a comma is more appropriate. Note that coordinating conjunctions should never follow semicolons.

When introducing a list, a colon or a comma should be used (eg. "...in their jurisdictions: Montana..."). Semicolons are generally used to link two independent clauses in a sentence.

Semicolons may be used to separate two related, independent clauses; however, they must be used alone, and without any accompanying conjunction.  The portion of the sentence that needs to be corrected in the sentence above is, "noise; and." The required correction is simply to delete the coordinating conjunction "and."

In the example sentence "If you don't stop lying to the police" acts not as an independent clause, but rather as a dependent introductory clause. Thus, the semicolon must be replaced with a comma in order for this sentence to be grammatically correct.

The example sentence correctly recognizes that the two clauses are independent, but in attempting to connect them into one compound sentence the author overzealously includes an unnecessary co-ordinating conjunction after the semicolon. This is overkill! Either a comma with an appropriate coordinating conjunction OR a semicolon with no accompanying conjunction can be used to punctuate this sentence. Deleting "but" or replacing the semicolon with a comma would fix this sentence.

Semicolons must follow independent clauses. Independent clauses must include all of the necessary components of a complete basic grammatical sentence. In the example sentence the semicolon interrupts the independent clause "I don't believe that you did what you said you did." The rest of the sentence is correct as written, as a comma and coordinating conjunction are used to connect the two independent clauses. Semicolons should never interrupt any clause.

The sentence is actually a run on sentence, with two complete sentences being jammed together to make a grammatically incorrect sentence. Such compound sentences need to be separated either by a comma and a conjunction, or a semicolon. This makes "Fewer and fewer people signed up for the program each year, and eventually it had to be cancelled," the correct answer choice.