Questão 96724

In formal academic writing, the use of the semicolon is governed by strict stylistic and grammatical rules that differentiate it from both the comma and the period. Its primary function is to link closely related independent clauses, but it also has a significant role in managing complex lists where individual items contain internal commas. Consider the following excerpt from a scholarly article on 19th-century literature: 'The Victorian era witnessed a surge in literary production—a phenomenon driven by rising literacy rates; technological advancements in printing, which made books more accessible; and a burgeoning middle class eager for new forms of entertainment. Novelists like Dickens, Eliot, and Thackeray did not merely write stories; they crafted intricate social commentaries, reflecting the anxieties and aspirations of a society undergoing profound transformation.' Based on a rigorous analysis of punctuation rules, which of the sentences below correctly employs a semicolon to link independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction?