Semicolon–period equivalence
SAT glossary · Course Foundations
Definition
Semicolon and period are grammatically identical, so if one is legal at a position the other is too. Consequence: when an item offers both as options, neither can be the answer — the examination does not produce two correct answers — and both can be eliminated on sight without reading the sentence.
Semicolon–period equivalence in plain English
A semicolon and a period are, grammatically speaking, completely interchangeable — anywhere a period is legally allowed to go, a semicolon is equally legal there too (and vice versa), since both are used to separate two independent, complete clauses. One big practical consequence follows from this: if a question ever gives you BOTH a semicolon option AND a period option as two separate answer choices, NEITHER of them can be the correct answer — because a well-made question can never have two equally-correct right answers, so you can immediately cross both of them off without even reading the sentence carefully.
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