JCM 103 Semicolons, Colons, Dashes & Hyphens

Writers should use dashes, colons and semicolons frequently.

B. False

Which of the following is correct for broadcast news writing?

B. STATE UNIVERSITY COACH PHIL MACKEWITZ IS IN TROUBLE AGAIN WITH THE N-C-A-A. (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is B. Place hyphens between letters in a commonly known acronym (like the NCAA) because it is easier for the anchor or reporter to see and read. Also, write broadcast news in all caps.

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

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.

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.

In which of the following sentences are hyphens used correctly?

A. A two-day meeting

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.

In 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.

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. It's elliptical. This means a hyphen should follow 12 just as a hyphen follows 20.

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.

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 local markets. (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 best?

B. The crowd was ready, the hamburgers were ready, the judges were ready — if only Childers' stomach were ready. (correct) Rationale: The best 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.

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. It's elliptical. This means a hyphen should follow "five" just as a hyphen follows "seven." D. The judge handed her a five to seven-year sentence.

In scriptwriting, which type of punctuation indicates a character is being interrupted?

D. Dash (correct) Rationale: The correct answer is D. A dash at the end of a character's line suggests another character or some event is about to interrupt. However, use ellipses if the character is just trailing off and ending her line on her own.

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.