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Punctuation Videos 27 videos

Colons
3486 Views

This video covers colons. How do you use them in a sentence? What do they have to do with lists?

Semicolons
10333 Views

Want even more deets on semicolons? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Where Does the Semicolon Fit Best?
1781 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 3. Where does the semicolon fit best?

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ACT English 3.4 Punctuation 641 Views


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Description:

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 4. Which choice best formats this list of items?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Grocery Stores. Where monsters shop for food.

00:09

How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

00:12

Julio went to the store for some groceries, milk, bread, coffee and cheese.

00:24

Okay, so we've got a nice list of items here, without an Oxford comma.

00:27

But wait, check it out.

00:29

"Groceries" describes the rest of the items in the sentence. It shouldn't just be thrown

00:33

in there with each of the specific items Julio is buying.

00:37

When we're listing items that fit in a category, we often like to use our little buddy, the

00:41

colon. So C and D look promising. They're the only

00:44

options that use one.

00:46

Here's where this one gets tricky. After we bring a colon into the mix, the oxford comma

00:51

isn't really optional anymore.

00:52

The final item of a list needs to be preceded by both a comma and an apostrophe, and C is

00:58

the only one with the comma before the last item.

01:01

Nice work. You win an apos-trophy.

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