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Can I use a semicolon before a word like however?

Yes, and this is one of its most useful jobs. When a conjunctive adverb such as however, therefore or nevertheless joins two independent clauses, it takes a semicolon before and a comma after. Using a comma before however instead is one of the most common punctuation errors in academic drafts.

This comes up on Colons and Semicolons, where it is answered in the context of the work itself.

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