Work that is not finished is not work at all, it is merely a botch, a failure.

Concept: A comma alone can never join two independent clauses (two word groups that could each stand as a complete sentence) — doing so creates a comma splice, a recognised grammar error. Two independent clauses may only be joined by a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction (and, but, so, yet). Whenever a semicolon is used, both sides must themselves be complete independent clauses — not a participial phrase built on an –ing/being form, and not a clause missing its own finite verb.

Application: The sentence has two parts. “Work that is not finished is not work at all” is already one complete independent clause. The part after it must also be a complete independent clause, correctly punctuated, and it should keep the clean parallel appositive list “a botch, a failure” in its natural order rather than rearranged.

Testing each candidate against that rule: replacing the comma with a semicolon fixes the join only if what follows the semicolon is itself a genuine, naturally-ordered independent clause. The version pairing the semicolon with the unchanged, naturally-ordered clause — “it is merely a botch, a failure” — satisfies both requirements at once: correct punctuation between two independent clauses, and an intact parallel list.

Cross-check — why the others fail:

• “all, it is merely a botch, a failure” keeps the two independent clauses joined by only a comma — a comma splice.

• “all, it is a botch merely, and a failure” is still a comma splice, and it also unnaturally reorders the words to “a botch merely” and inserts “and,” breaking the clean parallel list.

• “all; the work being merely a botch, a failure” uses the right punctuation mark, but “the work being merely a botch” is a participial phrase without its own finite verb, so the right side of the semicolon is still not an independent clause.

Result: The corrected sentence is “Work that is not finished is not work at all; it is merely a botch, a failure” — the only version where a semicolon joins two genuine independent clauses while preserving the natural parallel phrasing.