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ACT English 3.1 Punctuation 1059 Views


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ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 1. How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Company Policy. In order to balance out

00:08

Casual Fridays, we will be instituting Extra-Formal Mondays.

00:12

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

00:16

The employees were surprised: by the decision no change in company policy.

00:31

Looks like we're throwing regular colons into the mix now. Nothing "semi" about these guys.

00:35

But, what do colons do? Like, when they aren't the eyes of an emoticon smiley face?

00:41

A colon is used before an explanation, or a list. The part before the colon has to be

00:46

an independent clause, meaning it has to stand on its own.

00:49

Let's look through the answers to first see which ones start with an independent clause,

00:53

and have a list after the colon. A has a complete independent clause, but the

00:58

part after the colon is not an explanation. Instead, it's a continuation of the sentence.

01:03

What about B? We're back to a semicolon here. Well remember, both sides of the semicolon

01:08

have to be able to stand alone as sentences. The second half doesn't look particularly

01:12

promising. It's definitely not a complete sentence. Let's move on.

01:17

Does C work? Let's first look at whether or not the first clause is a complete sentence.

01:22

The words "no change" at the end just hang on to the sentence, so, no.

01:27

That leaves us with D. The first part is a complete independent clause, and the second

01:31

half explains the decision. Bingo. Just so you know, this sentence is now out

01:35

of colonoscopy surgery and is doing just fine.

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