During this answer, our beloved Jon Skeet considers the case that do {} while () requires a statement-terminator because while() requires a statement-body, and proceeds to exemplify that:
while (true);(empty statement) orwhile (true) {}(block statement)
...would be valid.
Things are quite straightforward with the second example; the while-loop executing the compound (block) statement ({}), which is empty.
The first example however, together with Skeet's description, sparked an interesting question to me:
Does the ; in while(true); (or any other iteration statement) terminate the while (/statement) itself (in some sense), or does it terminate an actual invisible empty statement between ) and the terminator?
From a grammar standpoint, it terminates the statement. That's a pretty odd way to think about it though. while loops must have a body, so if you just write
while(true)
The parser doesn't know where the "statement" ends as its missing a token. You could similarly "terminate" the statement with another statement.
while (true) i++;
Is just as valid as just the ;. The way you really should think about it is that writing
while (true) ;
Is really a while loop with an empty statement as its body, not trying to think of what "terminates the statement"