answer:The semicolon – apart from its use as an occasional list separator such as when items with commas are included in the list – functions as a conjunction; that is, it’s a ‘joining’ punctuation between two independent clauses. Other conjunctions that could also perform in the same capacity to join independent clauses – obviously with different meaning – are “for”, “and”, “nor”, “yet”, “but”, “or” and “so”. The hyphen is often used instead of parentheses to separate a phrase or dependent clause from the rest of the sentence. I’ve given you examples of each above.