Puys,
Just now we solved the question involving the usage of semicolon and colon.{posted by ponds_ggn 
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Question: After the company recalled one of its best-selling products, it would be forced to accept a one billion dollar loss, an expense that would have forced its main competitor to declare bankruptcy if it had suffered such a loss.
(A)After the company recalled one of its best-selling products, it would be forced to accept a one billion dollar loss, an expense that would have forced its main competitor to declare bankruptcy if it had suffered such a loss.
(B)As the company recalled one of its best-selling products, it accepted a one billion dollar loss; forcing its main competitor to declare bankruptcy if it had suffered such a loss.
(C)After the company recalled one of its best-selling products, its one billion dollar loss would have to be accepted; such a loss would have forced its main competitor to declare bankruptcy.
(D)After the company recalled one of its best-selling products, it was forced to accept a one billion dollar loss; its main competitor would have been forced to declare bankruptcy if it had suffered such a loss.
(E)When the company recalled one of its best-selling products, a one billion dollar loss it was forced to accept, an expense that would have forced its main competitor into bankruptcy.
I came across an article,explaining the usage of semicolon and colon, posted on internet.
I thought of sharing it with you.
The semicolon is a simple piece of punctuation, much easier to work with than the comma because it follows fairly clear rules. If you learn the two simple rules explained here, you'll rarely go wrong. It has two main uses, which are both easy to identify. You use it to connect two independent clauses together into one sentence, and you use it as a super-comma. You can use it in a few other unusual situations, but they come up rarely, and there are other ways to handle those situations. Learn them if you want to be perfect, but if you learn to recognize the two primary uses, you will do fine as semicolon user.
To Connect Two Independent Clauses
Independent clauses are series of words that could stand alone as complete sentences. When you have two otherwise complete sentences that you want to connect to form one long sentence, use a semicolon between them.
Example: This could be a complete sentence; this could be another one.
If you put a comma where that semicolon is, you will have committed a "comma splice," which is a very nasty grammar error indeed. Sometimes, the second clause doesn't really look like a complete sentence, so you must watch closely.
Example: Twelve workers started the project; only five remain.
There is, however, one exception that can cause you a problem. You don't use a semicolon to connect two complete sentences if there's a conjunction between the clauses (and, but, etc.). In that case, use a comma.
Example: This could be a complete sentence, and this could be another one.
Adding that single word, the conjunction "and," means that you must change that semicolon into a comma.
To Serve as a Super-comma
When you have a series of three or more items that normally would be separated by commas except that each individual item already has a comma in it, you use the semicolon between items.
Example: We visited Pago Pago, Western Samoa; Curitiba, Brazil; and St. George, Utah.
Example: The trio's birthdays are November 10, 1946; December 7, 1947; and October 31, 1950.
Example: Her favorite players are Steve Young, a quarterback; Jason Buck, a defensive end; and Ty Detmer, another quarterback.
As in the examples above, citing places, dates, and people's names with descriptions, are three very common situations where you'll see the super-comma usage.
