Question

Madeleine praised the author's use of characterization;
, Jeremy highlighted how the use of dialogue portrayed the characters' traits.

Answer 1

There’s a punctuation error: don’t use a comma after a semicolon. Also you can tighten the wording to avoid repeating “use of.” Examples:

- Correct with semicolon: "Madeleine praised the author's use of characterization; Jeremy highlighted how the use of dialogue portrayed the characters' traits."
- Correct with conjunction (smoother): "Madeleine praised the author's characterization, and Jeremy highlighted how dialogue portrayed the characters' traits."
- More concise: "Madeleine praised the author's characterization while Jeremy noted how dialogue revealed the characters' traits."
- Even tighter: "Madeleine praised the characterization; Jeremy praised the way dialogue revealed the characters."

Pick the one that best fits your tone.