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ACT English 2.1 Punctuation 509 Views


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ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 1. Which choice of punctuation best completes the sentence?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Independent Clauses. It's only a matter

00:08

of time before Kelly Clarkson writes a song about them.

00:12

I am going home I intend to stay there.

00:24

Notice how "I am going home" and "I intend to stay there" could both stand alone as sentences.

00:31

That clues us in to the fact that they're both independent clauses. Kinda like this guy.

00:36

It's looking like another independent clause

00:38

love story. These things always have a way of getting together when they're not supposed to.

00:43

Ever read Romeo and Juliet? We're going to play the role of Friar Lawrence and get these

00:47

two together, although hopefully this story won't end in death.

00:51

Alright. Well, we know that there are a few ways we could join these two sentences.

00:55

The first and easiest way is to just plop down a period. This brings a pause between

00:59

the two sentences, and if the sentences are separate and unrelated, this method makes

01:03

the most sense. But in this case, these clauses are pretty

01:06

clearly related. If we check the answer choices, only one of the options separates the sentence

01:11

using a period. If we plug that into the sentence, we end

01:14

up with "I am going home I intend. to stay there."

01:18

The period is placed in the wrong spot, so it just sounds as if the speaker is having

01:22

breathing problems Another way we could combine the two clauses

01:25

is with a comma and a conjunction.

01:27

We can't have a comma by itself, because that would be a comma splice, but we can use it

01:32

with a conjunction, like and.

01:35

Unfortunately, option C doesn't work out because it uses the comma without a nice conjunction,

01:40

forming that annoying comma splice. The final, and least common way is with a

01:44

semicolon. Semicolons are just like periods, only they show that the clauses are closely

01:49

related. Option B utilizes a semicolon nicely, and

01:52

puts it in the right place. But for every right answer, there are three wrong answers,

01:56

so let's make sure the original sentence doesn't work as is before we decide to put all our

02:01

eggs in B's basket. Well, there's not really anything in between

02:05

the two clauses. No period, comma, conjunction, or semicolon.

02:10

Which means it has to be wrong; you can't just throw the two clauses together.

02:15

Option B is the way to go. So happy we could help out a couple of star-crossed lovers.

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