When are commas and semicolons needed in a piece of writting?

Commas indicate a small break, a soft pause that separates words, clauses or ideas within a sentence. Here are some rules to correctly use commas in a piece of writing:

1. Before any coordination (yet, and, but, for, on, so) that links two different clauses. Ex. "I went swimming, and I saw some fishes."

A similar use is to write commas to separate different even if there's no coordination. Ex. "I went swimming, I saw some fishes".

2. To offset appositives from the rest of the sentence. Ex. "Elena, my brother's psychologist, is really pretty".

3. For series or lists. Ex. " I'll need tomatoes, onions, garlic, and chicken for today's dinner".

4. Before a quote, to attribute it to someone. Ex. My mom said, " I don't know where my keys are"

5. Between two adjectives that describe the same noun. Ex. "The green, big fish is mine".

6. When the first word of a sentence is yes or no, or an introductory adverb. Ex. "Finally, I finished my duties". Ex. "No, I didn't see him."

Semicolons are used to separate major sentence elements, its pause duration is longer than a comma but shorter than a period. Here are some rules to use it correctly:

1. It can be used to narrow the gap between two close ideas instead of using a period. Ex. "Text me next week; you can give me an answer than"

2. To separate elements in a series where commas are included in the elements listed. Ex. "I would like to visit Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; Tokyo, Japan, and Oslo, Norway".

This rule also applies to independent clauses joined by connectors when more than one or more commas appear in the first clause. Ex. "When I arrive there, and I'll soon, I'll be hungry; and would like to eat something"

I hope you find this information useful and interesting! Good luck!