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Where Does the Semicolon Fit Best? 1610 Views
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Description:
ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 3. Where does the semicolon fit best?
- Punctuation / Semicolons
- Product Type / ACT English
- Conventions / Demonstrate command of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
- Conventions / Demonstrate command of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
- Conventions / Demonstrate command of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
- Usage/Mechanics / Punctuation
Transcript
- 00:03
Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Mountain Climbing. Because your Everest
- 00:08
is the actual Everest.
- 00:12
They couldn't make it to the peak and back; before dark they decided to camp for the night.
- 00:28
Scary, what if they get eaten by bears, or get poison oak, or get snatched by mountain
- 00:33
trolls? Okay, it's possible we watch too much Lord of the Rings.
Full Transcript
- 00:37
Let's see if we can at least fix the semicolons in this sentence to lift our campers' spirits...
- 00:41
Well, there are four possible places that the semicolon can go.
- 00:45
On either side of the semicolon, the clause has to stand alone, so let's check each place
- 00:51
to see if it forms two complete thoughts. In C, the first clause makes sense, but the
- 00:56
second is a confusing mess. The sentence "to the peak and back before
- 01:00
dark they decided to camp for the night" doesn't work. At all.
- 01:04
B is a similar situation. Although "They couldn't make it to the peak" works as a complete sentence,
- 01:10
"and back before dark they decided to camp for the night" does not.
- 01:16
A? "Before dark they decided to camp for the night" isn't a complete sentence either. Buh-bye.
- 01:24
Although those sentences were painful to read, at least we're left with one good answer.
- 01:28
The last one of the bunch, D, forms two complete thoughts that are independent clauses, and
- 01:33
separates them with a semicolon. Much the same way that mountain troll plans
- 01:36
to separate the campers' heads from their bodies.
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