ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Commas Videos 16 videos

ACT English 1.1 Punctuation
655 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 1, Problem 1. Choose the correct punctuation for this sentence.

ACT English 1.2 Punctuation
396 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 1, Problem 2. How should we format this list?

ACT English 1.3 Punctuation
55719 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 1, Problem 3. Is that comma being used correctly?

See All

ACT English 1.1 Punctuation 655 Views


Share It!


Description:

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 1, Problem 1. Choose the correct punctuation for this sentence.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Grandmothers. They'll let you do all

00:08

the stuff your parents won't, because... what do they care?

00:12

My grandmother a true artist decided it was time for me to learn to paint.

00:19

And here are the possible answers...

00:25

Well, as is, this sentence just sounds weird.

00:29

It's very unlikely that "Grandmother-a-true-artist" is your grandmother's name

00:34

Based on the context, the subject of the sentence is actually just... grandma.

00:38

That would make "a true artist" an appositive phrase.

00:43

An appositive phrase drops in another name, or something that defines the previous subject,

00:48

with two well-placed commas surrounding it.

00:50

These say, "My grandma doesn't just bake amazing apple pie, she's an artist too."

00:57

Well, we know A can't be true, because right

00:59

now the sentence doesn't make sense. D is out as well... unless you have a "grandmother

01:03

A" to distinguish her from grandmothers B and C...

01:07

In option C, there's only one comma, so the appositive phrase isn't appropriately

01:12

jailed like we want it to be. We need commas on both sides. We're sticking

01:16

to our guns on this one. Now all that's left is B. It works because

01:18

the appositive phrase is surrounded by two commas. Just the way we like it.

Related Videos

ACT English 2.2 Punctuation
2070 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 2. Where should the semi-colon be placed?

ACT English 3.1 Punctuation
1066 Views

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

ACT English 3.2 Punctuation
973 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 2. How should we properly hyphenate the words in this sentence?

ACT English 3.4 Punctuation
522 Views

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

ACT English 2.1 Punctuation
519 Views

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