Read the sentence below and answer the question.
reverend sykes used his pulpit more freely to express his views on individual lapses from grace: jim hardy had been absent from church for five sundays and he wasn’t sick; constance jackson had better watch her ways – she was in grave danger of quarreling with her neighbors; she had erected the only spite fence in the history of the quarters.
in at least 75 words, explain how the semicolons are used in the excerpt.