ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


English I Videos 96 videos

ACT Reading 1.4 Prose Fiction
350 Views

ACT Reading Prose Fiction Drill 1, Problem 4. How does the narrator feel about the prediction made at his birth that he would have the ability...

AP English Language and Composition 1.1 Comprehension
449 Views

AP® English Language and Composition: Comprehension Drill 1, Problem 1. The speaker would agree with all of the following statements except what?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 5
245 Views

AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 5. Death is primarily characterized as what?

See All

ACT English 3.1 Punctuation 1066 Views


Share It!


Description:

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 1. How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Company Policy. In order to balance out

00:08

Casual Fridays, we will be instituting Extra-Formal Mondays.

00:12

How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

00:16

The employees were surprised: by the decision no change in company policy.

00:31

Looks like we're throwing regular colons into the mix now. Nothing "semi" about these guys.

00:35

But, what do colons do? Like, when they aren't the eyes of an emoticon smiley face?

00:41

A colon is used before an explanation, or a list. The part before the colon has to be

00:46

an independent clause, meaning it has to stand on its own.

00:49

Let's look through the answers to first see which ones start with an independent clause,

00:53

and have a list after the colon. A has a complete independent clause, but the

00:58

part after the colon is not an explanation. Instead, it's a continuation of the sentence.

01:03

What about B? We're back to a semicolon here. Well remember, both sides of the semicolon

01:08

have to be able to stand alone as sentences. The second half doesn't look particularly

01:12

promising. It's definitely not a complete sentence. Let's move on.

01:17

Does C work? Let's first look at whether or not the first clause is a complete sentence.

01:22

The words "no change" at the end just hang on to the sentence, so, no.

01:27

That leaves us with D. The first part is a complete independent clause, and the second

01:31

half explains the decision. Bingo. Just so you know, this sentence is now out

01:35

of colonoscopy surgery and is doing just fine.

Related Videos

ACT English 2.2 Punctuation
2070 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 2. Where should the semi-colon be placed?

ACT English 3.2 Punctuation
973 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 2. How should we properly hyphenate the words in this sentence?

ACT English 3.4 Punctuation
522 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 4. Which choice best formats this list of items?

ACT English 2.1 Punctuation
519 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 1. Which choice of punctuation best completes the sentence?

ACT English 2.4 Punctuation
467 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 4. Which punctuation fits best in this sentence?