human
I'm a little confused about the difference between a comma and a semicolon. Can you explain?
assistant
A comma is used to separate clauses in a sentence, while a semicolon can be used to separate independent clauses within a single sentence. For example, "I went to the store, bought some food, then came home." In this case, the first clause is separated from the second by a comma, but both clauses are connected by the word "then" which creates an independent clause.