Show:
More, More Commas!
Semicolon, Colon, Apostrophe
Quotation Marks and
Other Punctuation
Active and Passive
Parallel Ideas
100
This sentence (does/does not) require a comma: The campers need clothes that are durable.
What is does not? (restrictive clause, essential to sentence)
100
Add the correct punctuation mark for this sentence: Men, you can't live with them you can't live without them.
What is a semicolon? (after them)
100
This sentence is (correct/incorrect): Billy asked, "Would you go to homecoming with me"?
What is incorrect? (question mark inside quotes)
100
This is an example of an (active/passive) verb: The pumps were destroyed by a surge of power.
What is passive? (destroyed... by zombies)
100
Balance parallel ideas in a __________ as in the example below: A kiss can be a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point.
What is a series?
200
The sentence below (does/does not) need a comma, because it is a ______________ clause. The football players need sturdy shoes, which are expensive.
What is does and nonrestrictive clause? (does not change meaning dramatically if remove clause)
200
A good workout should include the following twenty knee bends, fifty sit-ups, and five minutes of running in place. The sentence above requires a (semicolon/colon) after the word _____________.
What is colon after following? (sets off a list)
200
Will I be able to remember the line "These are the times that try men's souls"? The quotation mark is placed (correctly/incorrectly).
What is correctly? (question mark applies to whole sentence not quoted material)
200
The active sentence below: a. Hernando caught the fly ball. b. The fly ball was caught by Hernando.
What is a? (Hernando did the action)
200
This change would make the following ideas in the sentence parallel: Children who study music also learn confidence, discipline, and they are creative.
What is change "they are creative" to "and creativity"?
300
Add comma(s) to this sentence as needed: Yesterday my mother said "Take out the trash."
What is after said?
300
Some important vitamins found in vegetables are: vitamin A, thiamine, niacin, and vitamin C. The sentence above: a. is correct c. requires a semicolon d. should have no colon
What is d? (no colon; not a complete independent clause prior to colon)
300
In the following sentence, place quotations marks around these words. My father always called me the apple of his eye.
What is "the apple of his eye"?
300
Name the type of sentence below (passive/active) and switch: The debris was removed from the construction site by the contractor.
What is passive? (The contractor removed...)
300
The correct use of correlative conjunctions that come in pairs for the following sentence: a. Thomas Edison was not only a prolific inventor but also was a successful entrepreneur. b. Thomas Edison was not only a prolific inventor but also a successful entrepreneur.
What is b? (not only... but also)
400
The following sentence is correct because _______________. Evolution, as far as we know, does not work that way.
What is it is a parenthetical expression? (set off by commas)
400
The correct use of the apostrophe: a. Have you seen Joyce and Greg's new camper? b. Have you seen Joyce's and Greg's new camper?
What is a? (jointly possession of the camper, apostrophe on second name)
400
Most sentences end with this.
What is a period?
400
This is an example of a good time to use the passive voice.
What is when the action is more important than the person taking the action? ("the bodies were found" (who not important) or What is when you do not want to take responsibility for something? (the event was cancelled)
400
Add a repeat function word to make parts of sentence parallel: Our study revealed that left-handed students were more likely to be creative and learning math would be harder.
What is add "and that" before learning? (revealed that... and that...)
500
The sentence below (takes/does not take) commas because commas (do/do not) set off nouns of ___________ address. Forgive me Angela for forgetting your birthday.
What is takes, do and direct? (when directly addressing Angela name non essential)
500
Put the apostrophe or apostrophes in the correct place(s): Its commonly known that a dog wags its tail.
What is in first It's? (it is commonly, a contraction); (its tail is possessive pronoun, no apostrophe)
500
The sentence below is a good example of using this type of punctuation to set off parenthetical material: Everything that went wrong--from the peeping Tom at her window last night to my car crash today--we blamed on our move.
What is an em dash?
500
This type of academic writing often features the passive voice for this particular reason.
What is scientific writing (because passive voice emphasizes the process over the researcher)?
500
A way to make the parts of this sentence linked with "than" parallel: It is easier to speak in abstractions than grounding one's thoughts in reality.
What is change "grounding" to infinitive? (to speak... to ground)