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Course: Digital SAT Reading and Writing > Unit 5
Lesson 8: Boundaries: PunctuationPunctuation — Worked example
Learn the best way to approach a punctuation question on the SAT. Whether we're linking clauses or adding supplements to a sentence, we'll need to appropriately employ punctuation. We may also need to identify instances where no punctuation is necessary. The SAT may test your knowledge of commas, semicolons, colons, and dashes. It's important to know the proper ways to use each punctuation mark.. Created by David Rheinstrom.
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- Please can someone assist me with this question:
Best known for the series of 10 plays collectively
referred to as "The Pittsburgh Cycle," the playwright ________ explores universal themes while exploring the
experiences and heritage of the African American
community throughout the twentieth century.
A) playwright, August Wilson,
B) playwright, August Wilson
C) playwright August Wilson,
D) playwright August Wilson(1 vote)- The answer is D because it is referring to an specific playwright, meaning that it is no ommitable information (discard A). Keys B and C, on the other hand, are not using commas properly.(15 votes)
- Why is the answer with comma. I mean, should not the answer be with semicolon as we can see that the further sentence already contains commas. So is it not better to use semicolon instead ??Please anyone make me clear!(2 votes)
- It has a comma because "though" is a subordinating conjunction and indicates a dependent clause. Semicolons are used for independent clauses. You may have been confused because semicolons are also used to separate lists that already have commas, but that sentence wasn't a list.(8 votes)
- Hello! I found this video really helpful!
while I was solving some other questions regarding to punctuation types, I had a question.
The following text is...
In 1937, Chinese American screen actor Anna May Wong, who had portrayed numerous villains and secondary characters but never a heroine, finally got a starrin ng role in Paramount Pictures' Daughter of Shanghai, a film that ____ "expanded the range of possibilities for Asian images on screen."
Which choice completes the texxt so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) critic, Stina Chyn, claims
B) critic, Stina Chyn, claims,
C) critic Stina Chyn claims
D) critic Stina Chyn, claims,
I get that the comma can not be end of claims as starting from " ,a film that... images on screen"" is the non-essential supplement but is used at the end of the paragraph so only the comma is enough for separating this form the rest of the sentence. So, I can eliminate choices B and D which both has commas at the end. But, I don't quite get how to distinguish whether A or C is right based on only the knowledge I've got learning the punctuation part.
Sorry for such a long question
Thank you~(5 votes)- Based on the information you provided, both choices A and C are grammatically correct. The difference lies in the use of the comma before and after "Stina Chyn."
In choice A, "critic, Stina Chyn, claims," the commas set off the name "Stina Chyn" as an appositive, providing additional information about the noun "critic." This means that the sentence can be read as "critic claims."
In choice C, "critic Stina Chyn claims," there are no commas. This suggests that "Stina Chyn" is an essential part of the noun phrase "critic Stina Chyn," and removing it would change the meaning of the sentence.
Without further context, it's difficult to determine the intended meaning and whether "Stina Chyn" is an essential or non-essential part of the sentence. However, based solely on punctuation rules, both choices A and C are valid.(2 votes)
- 3:43Can the colon in the first sentence be replaced with a coma (,) or a dash (-)?
Will the SAT ever ask you to choose between those options?
Thank you in advance.(1 vote)- Not sure about using a comma, but I think you could use a dash. I kinda asked a similar question down below if you wanna look.(2 votes)
- My big test is in 2 days! Last lesson of all the dsat reading/writing unit. Y’all wish me luck! God bless😭(1 vote)
- "Winding through the ice atop Norway’s Jotunheim Mountains is the Lendbreen pass, an ancient route that was used by hunters, farmers, traders, and travelers in the Middle Ages before eventually falling into disuse."
Can someone please tell me what type of clause "An ancient route...into disuse." is?(1 vote) - What are the main guidelines?(1 vote)
- In digital SAT will SAT expect us to know the difference between Semicolons and Colons?(1 vote)
- Hey guys! Can any of you help me understand the reason why B is wrong? The official explanation of option B is that it will be a run-on sentence, but run-on sentence should consist two independent clauses. However, " such as the... scene" is not an independent clause, right?
Q: In 1959, the film industry debuted Smell-O-Vision. Theaters were fitted with specialized vents that emitted odors at specific points in a ____ as the scent of roses when roses appeared in a scene. Smell-O Vision failed to impress, however, with one reviewer declaring it “briefly weird and not very interesting.”
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A. movie, such B.movie such(1 vote) - a4:12, david uses a hyphen to seperate non essential information but isnt the info in the sentence essential? i mean without knowing the record names.. how wud u understnad the rest of the sentence. it even specifies ( these records )(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] Hello, test takers, here's a question from the
reading and writing test. If you'd like to give it
a go on your own first, take a moment to pause this video now. All right, moment concluded,
let's do it together. The island nation of Barbados is colloquially referred
to as Bim by its residents, many of whom are descendants
of enslaved Africans taken to the island
during the 18th century. Though the origins of the
nickname aren't entirely blank, Bim is thought to be derived
from the Igbo phrase, bi mu, which means my home or my people. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the
conventions of standard English? We're looking to conform the
conventions of standard English which is another way of saying that the answer will be the choice that is grammatically correct, but which grammar convention
is being tested here? The choices will tell us. So our choices vary only
in how they are punctuated or in the case of choice
a, not punctuated at all, which tells me that we're working with a boundaries question. Boundaries questions
all about the linkages between phrases and clauses. Should we use a comma,
a semicolon, a period? Do we need to include a
coordinating conjunction like and or but? Boundaries questions
may vary in their focus but there are a few
rules that will help us answer any boundaries
question we see on test day. With this particular example question, we're going to look at the
rules around different types of punctuation marks. So, a refresher, what's
a punctuation mark? And what do they do for a living? The essay team test your
knowledge of commas, semicolons, colons, and dashes. There's also end of sentence punctuation but I'm not gonna go over
periods, question marks, and explanation points here,
because I wanna talk about the marks that bind a sentence together, not the ones that result
in separate sentences. Let's go through each in turn. Here's what commas can do; they can separate items in a list such as I'll need chili
flakes, shrimp, and lime juice to make this dish, they can
separate non-essential elements from the rest of a sentence, their aunt, the famous cellist, is
visiting from Columbia. They can link dependent
clauses to independent clauses, although they may appear
very cute, slow lorises should not be kept as pets, and they can link independent
clauses to one another with the coordinating conjunction. The Canadian power pop band Sloan was nominated for nine Juno Awards, but they only won one. But a single comma cannot
do the following things; commas can't split a subject and its verb, so the following is incorrect. Mountain goats, are very nimble. Commas can't come before prepositions, as in Howard gave a vase, to me, and commas can't
punctuate a two-item list, you need at least three items,
so this is ungrammatical, I need eggs, and milk. Using commas in any of
these ways is ungrammatical in standard English, each
will result in an error. Let's move on to semicolons and colons. Semicolons can do two things. They can link independent
clauses without a conjunction as in mangoes are the national
fruit of the Philippines; in Serbia, the national fruit is the plum. And they can separate list
items in a complex list, a list that is already
punctuated by commas as in the business was
wide ranging, with outposts in Versailles, France, Beirut, Lebanon, and Lawrence, Kansas. Colons can only follow
independent clauses, their function is to introduce things. Colons can introduce
explanations and extra info. Mr. Gold Schmidt is best
known for his mastery of one fabric: denim, or
they can introduce lists. Josephine Baker was many things:
an activist, a performer, and a spy for the French resistance. And finally, a set of paired dashes can set off non essential information as in these records --
Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, and Ascension -- cemented
John Coltrane's place in the firmament of jazz. And a single dash needs to
follow an independent clause behaving kind of like a colon as in the final speech was delivered by the least popular
person in town - the mayor. Okay, this concludes the refresher. I hope you feel a little
recharged, a little zestful, let's move on and address the strategy I like for approaching
boundaries questions that focus on punctuation. First, check before and after the blank to identify the clauses. Are we dealing with two
independent clauses here or is one of them dependent? Then, eliminate choices
that result in errors like run on sentences or comma splices. While multiple punctuation
marks could work in some situations,
you'll never be offered more than one choice on the SAT that doesn't introduce
an identifiable error. Then, identify the answer,
because whatever doesn't result in an error is the correct choice. Let's go back to the question. I've already read our passage, so let's just do our strategy
and look at either side of the blank to evaluate the clauses. We're looking to see if they
could stand on their own as sentences, which means they won't start with subordinating conjunctions like although, despite, or when. And hey, look at that, this
bit starts with though, though the origins of the
nickname aren't entirely clear, so that makes me think
that though the origins of the nickname aren't entirely clear is a dependent clause and
that tells us a lot of things, that tells us the answer
cannot be C, right, that's a semicolon, it can only link two independent clauses, it can't be D, a colon can only come after
an independent clause, so what's on the other side of the blank? Okay, Bim is thought to be derived, okay, so subject, Bim, verb is, right, you boil down the second
bit and it's just Bim is thought to be derived from Igbo so we've got a dependent clause
and an independent clause, they can't just be stuck
together without punctuation that would be a run on
sentence and that's no good. So that knocks out choice A, right, 'cause there's no punctuation there. And since we can't do a semicolon
and we can't do a colon, that leaves us with choice
B, the comma choice, that's our answer. Let's review some top tips really quick. Test what comes right before and right after the punctuation to see if and where an
independent clause appears and then apply the rules. The key to these
questions is understanding how many clauses you're dealing with and how many of them
are independent clauses? All of your punctuation
decisions will flow from there. All right, good luck out
there, you've got this.