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ACT English 1.2 Sentence Structure 352 Views


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ACT English: Sentence Structure Drill 1, Problem 2. What punctuation do we need between these clauses?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Long Island. Although, to be fair, it's

00:09

what's IN an island that really counts.

00:11

How should you change the highlighted portion below, if at all?

00:15

Although it will always be associated with Fitzgerald's Long Island, West Egg was never

00:21

a real place.

00:27

The word "although" at the top of the sentence signals that the first clause is dependent,

00:32

meaning that it can't stand on its own as a complete sentence.

00:35

In fact, the first clause is what's known as an introductory clause, a type of clause

00:40

that sets the stage for the main clause to come.

00:43

Choice (B) is incorrect because it doesn't separate the introductory clause from the

00:45

main sentence.

00:47

Without any kind of punctuation dividing these clauses, we have ourselves a major run-on

00:50

sentence.

00:51

Run-ons are just exhausting for everybody involved, so we'll definitely leave (B)

00:55

by the wayside.

00:57

Choice (C) uses a semicolon. It's nice that it tries to throw a little punctuation in

01:01

there, but it's not the kind of punctuation we need.

01:03

Semicolons are used to connect independent clauses.

01:06

Since we know that our introductory clause is totally dependent on the main sentence,

01:10

we can nix choice (C).

01:12

The colon that choice (D) throws at us doesn't work either.

01:15

Sure, colons can be used to connect dependent or independent clauses, but they usually introduce

01:21

an explanation of some kind.

01:24

Our second clause here isn't doing anything to explain the first, so (D) is off the table.

01:29

This means that our original sentence gets it right, by separating the introductory clause

01:33

from the main clause with a good old-fashioned comma.

01:36

Wait - West Egg isn't real? Sigh, first Santa Claus, now this...

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