Semicolons, Colons, Dashes & Hyphens Quiz

In which of the following sentences are hyphens used correctly?

A. A two-day meeting (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is A. Use a hyphen in a compound modifier (two adjectives) that comes directly before the noun it modifies. Don't use hyphens after adverbs, as in a "a thinly veiled excuse," or in the middle of a proper noun, as in "The College of

n which of the following sentences are hyphens used correctly?

D. a, b and c (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is D. Hyphens are used with single-digit votes and court rulings, with single-digit sports scores, and with ratios.

Which of the following sentences is correct?

D. Childers said he had hoped to break the hamburger-eating record, but he had several problems: an upset stomach, a broken tooth and some stiff competition. (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is D. A colon is best here because the first part of the sentence sets up the second. It sends the reader a clear signal to expect something. Also, the words following the colon do not form a complete sentence, and so you don't capitalize the first word after the colon. Only complete sentences are capitalized after a colon.

In which of the following sentences are hyphens used correctly?

A. It's a 12- by 20-foot stage area. (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is A. This is a case of "suspended hyphenation." The word "foot" is missing after the numeral 12, but it is understood that it would be there. This means a hyphen should follow 12 just as a hyphen follows 20.

Which of the following sentences is correct?

A. Childers said he was disappointed not to break the hamburger-eating record; he said his body would not "swallow fast enough." (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is A. A semicolon is best here because it links two independent clauses, which are complete thoughts and which are related to one another. Neither a colon nor a dash is quite right here because the first clause doesn't clearly signal the reader to expect the second clause, and there's no twist ending. A comma is absolutely wrong because you'd end up with a comma splice.

Question 2: Which of the choices below is NOT a way to correct the following sentence? Jones landed a job making personal appearances as Yoyo the Clown he eventually bought the rights to Yoyo's character.

A. Jones landed a job making personal appearances as Yoyo the Clown and he eventually bought the rights to Yoyo's character. (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is A. The sentence is a run-on, and so it needs some form of punctuation between the two independent clauses. The first choice adds the coordinating conjunction "and" between the clauses, but it leaves out the comma that should come before the conjunction. So that can't be right. Choices b and c use the semicolon correctly to link the clauses, and choice d makes each clause a complete sentence. That works too.

True or false? Writers should use dashes, colons and semicolons frequently.

B. False (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is B. Writers should be careful not to overuse dashes, colons and semicolons, as overuse weakens their effectiveness. Often it's best just to start a new sentence. Writers should vary the lengths of their sentences. Sometimes a lengthy, descriptive piece of prose works beautifully to convey the writer's meaning. Sometimes it doesn't.

Which of the choices below is the best way to correct the following sentence? Jones' business, combining animation, licensing of the clown's character, voice recordings and personal appearances, made millions, as Jones trained more than 200 "Yoyo Clowns" to represent him in local markets.

B. Jones' business - combining animation, licensing of the clown's character, voice recordings, and personal appearances - made millions, as Jones trained more than 100 "Yoyo Clowns" to represent him in (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is B. The series of phrases describing Jones' business needs to be set off by more than just commas, because commas already separate the phrases within the series. Adding two more commas just confuses. So, set the series off with dashes. Only dashes are used to set off a list when it falls in the middle of a sentence.

Which of the following sentences is correct?

B. The crowd was ready, the hamburgers were ready, the judges were ready -- if only Childers' stomach were ready. (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is B. A dash is needed here because the end of the sentence is unexpected. The stop is abrupt. A comma can't be used because it would be a comma splice (linking two independent clauses). Neither a semicolon nor a colon is the best solution because a dash works better with a surprise ending like this one.

Which of the following sentences is correct?

C. Childers said he had hoped to break the hamburger-eating record, but he had one problem: His stomach wouldn't cooperate. (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is C. A colon is best here because the first part of the sentence sets up the second. It sends the reader a clear signal to expect something.

Question 3: What is the correct term for the word underlined in the following sentence? Jones landed a job making personal appearances as Yoyo the Clown; moreover, he eventually bought the rights to Yoyo's character.

C. Conjunctive adverb (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is C: CONJUNCTIVE ADVERB. The words "moreover," "therefore," "however" and "nevertheless" are all conjunctive adverbs. Conjunctive adverbs can be used to link independent clauses, as long as a semicolon precedes it, and a comma follows it.

Question 1: Find the problem with the punctuation in the following sentence. Quenton is survived by a brother, Stanley Reynolds, of Glenns River, N.J., a sister, Nancy Festinger, of Oaktown, N.J., a son, Randy Quenton, of Scarsdale and two grandchildren.

C. Semicolons are needed between each item. (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is C. When items in a series contain commas within them, the items should be separated by semicolons. The sentence should be punctuated this way: Quenton is survived by a brother, Stanley Reynolds, of Glenns River, N.J.; a sister, Nancy Festinger, of Oaktown, N.J.; a son, Randy Quenton, of Scarsdale; and two grandchildren.

In which of the following sentences are hyphens used correctly?

C. The judge handed her a five- to seven-year sentence. (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is C. This is a case of "suspended hyphenation." The word "year" is missing after the word "five," but it is understood that it would be there. This means a hyphen should follow "five" just as a hyphen follows "seven."

Which of the choices below is the best way to correct the following sentence? Jones invented Yoyo's distinctive features the bright purple hair, the green top hat, the enormous yellow gloves and the polka-dotted umbrella.

D. Jones invented Yoyo's distinctive features: the bright purple hair, the green top hat, the enormous yellow gloves and the polka-dotted umbrella. (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is D. The series of clown features needs to be set off with some form of punctuation, and because the first part of the sentence signals the reader to expect a series, a colon is best. A semicolon isn't appropriate because it's used to separate two independent clauses. A comma is not enough of a stop. A dash comes closest, but it's not ideal because it works best when the stop is abrupt and somewhat surprising. That's not the case here because the reader knows to expect details about the clown's features.