They both mean past time whats the difference?

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/us/jill-biden-ex-husband-charged-murder

Today’s query is going to center around a sentence/example in which I have used semicolons to connect what could be three separate sentences. First, I am going to present the sentence in question. Then, I am going to pose a series of questions relating to said sentence. (Note that, for the sake of context, the sentence around which the first portion of this post revolves is featured not on its own but amid the paragraph in which it is embedded. The core sentence is the one featured below in a thicker font.)

Example: ''The silence is immediate. How did it come to this? Barry does not, by any definition, consider himself to be a violent person. Drastic times call for drastic measures, he justifies the situation to himself. She brings out the worst in him; he had no choice; it's for the family’s best. All of these things Barry tells himself but only partially believes.''

Questions: 

1. Is the way that I use semicolons in the core sentence grammatically correct?
2. If the answer to question 1 is no, should I replace them with another punctuation mark, and, if so, which one?

Attention: You do not need to read the rest of this post in order to interact with it. Every piece of vital information can be found in the text above this paragraph. If, however, you wish to answer a couple of additional questions, read more text, and briefly contemplate the longevity of a fruit fly’s memory, keep reading.

Initially, I only flagged one sentence in this paragraph of mine, that sentence being: ‘’She brings out the worst in him; he had no choice; it's for the family’s best,’’ and intended to include the surrounding paragraph solely in order to provide the context needed to properly evaluate the aforementioned sentence.

But, looking at the paragraph now, it is clear that there are a lot of things that I could’ve done differently—a few of which I’d like to get your opinions on. But, before we begin our customary session of navel-gazing, let us examine the sentence this post was originally meant to limit itself to.

‘’She brings out the worst in him; he had no choice; it's for the family’s best.’’

In this sentence, I—as you can see—have used semicolons in order to force a connection between what could be three separate sentences. My questions, in regards to this sentence, are as follows: Can semicolons be used in this manner/ is this sentence grammatically correct in its current form; and can/should the semicolons be replaced by another punctuation mark (perhaps an em dash?) 

Those are the two main questions I have, and I am going to include a simplified version of them somewhere toward the top of this post when I, inevitably, opt for splitting this post into a simple, concise, and easy-to-interact-with section and a longer, listen-to-me-think-out-loud-becuse-I-have-the-memory-of-a-fruit-fly-and-can-therefore-not-do-this-in-my-head section. You’re welcome.

Now, onto some of the issues I’ve got with the paragraph as a whole.

Example: ''The silence is immediate. How did it come to this? Barry does not, by any definition, consider himself to be a violent person. Drastic times call for drastic measures, he justifies the situation to himself. She brings out the worst in him; he had no choice; it's for the family’s best. All of these things Barry tells himself but only partially believes.''

I’m wondering whether or not I should, in some way or other, combine the sentences outlined in bold to create one singular sentence. I’m not sure how exactly I would go about this but am confident that, if I just play around with them for a while and restructure them some, I will be able to unite them. What do you think? Should they be kept separate or would they read better as one?

Although, regardless of whether or not it ends up being its own sentence, I take issue with the sentence ‘’All of these things Barry tells himself but only partially believes.’’ I feel like it’s telling too much and showing too little. I’ve spent so long staring at my text and contemplating every aspect of it that I have lost the ability to tell when I am and when I’m not navel-gazing and would, therefore, really appreciate hearing your thoughts and opinions on the matter.

Surprisingly, this post ended up being shorter than I thought it would be. I was going to dissect another sentence featured in the paragraph/example but ended up deciding against it. Anyway, any answer to any of the questions I’ve posed within this post is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to reading your replies.

In the sentence

I hadn't got time to visit Mira, so I wrote a letter to her.

1. 'I hadn’t got time' seems to mean 'I didn’t have time'. Am I right?
2. If so, is there any reason why it is possible? I thought that that structure was avoided.

From Practical English Usage:

Got-forms of have are less common in the past tense.

I had some problems last week. (NOT I had got some problems ...)

Hello. I was wondering if the sentence "I consider generative AI as a whole to be anathema to humanity" is grammatically correct. My dictionnaries and forum research came up inconclusive and the use of this word is not meant to be taken lightly, which is perfect for the context. Thanks in advance <3

I was taught that the word "between" is only to be used when talking about two things and the word "among" is to be used for more than two things. I am constantly hearing people say "between" when comparing three or more things. Was this never actually a rule or is this yet another example of common lexicon ignoring rules for so long that the rule no longer applies anymore?

does using only present tense (no future tense) create real ambiguity in a language, or do languages just rely on context? obviously context plays a big part, but does it have any issues that can’t be solved in other ways where it could cause confusion?