Praxis Writing : Semicolons

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Praxis Writing

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Identifying Punctuation Errors

Select the underlined word or phrase that needs to be changed to make the sentence correct. Some sentences contain no error at all.

According to the survey; business owners who employed more than one hundred workers were twice as likely to oppose unionization as were owners of smaller businesses. No error

Possible Answers:

survey;

No error

were twice as likely

who

Correct answer:

survey;

Explanation:

The error here occurs in the punctuation of the dependent introductory clause. Since this opening clause is introductory in nature, it is considered a dependent clause. Semicolons can never punctuate dependent clauses, they must follow independent clauses. The rest of the sentence was correct as written.

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