Praxis Writing : Identifying Punctuation Errors
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Identifying Punctuation Errors
Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.
Jeremy flew to Europe last week: He said he wanted to be alone for awhile.
week...
week,
week:
week;
week;
This sentence uses a colon where a semicolon would be more appropriate. While a colon requires an independent clause before it, when trying to separate two independent clauses it is best to use a semicolon. Also, in the example sentence, the first letter of the second clause is incorrectly capitalized. The best version of the sentence reads, "Jeremy flew to Europe last week; he said he wanted to be alone for awhile."
Example Question #1 : Semicolons
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
were twice as likely
who
survey;
No error
survey;
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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