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Usage and Mechanics Videos 116 videos

ELA Drills, Advanced: Punctuation 1
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ELA Drills, Advanced: Punctuation 1. Which option best completes the sentence?

ACT English 1.1 Grammar and Usage
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ACT English: Grammar and Usage Drill 1, Problem 1. What should replace the underlined word?

ACT English 1.2 Grammar and Usage
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ACT English: Grammar and Usage Drill 1, Problem 2. Does the underlined word match the subject and tense?

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ACT English 4.13 Passage Drill 178 Views


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Description:

ACT English: Passage Drill 4, Problem 13. What punctuation mark, if any, best precedes "sugar" in this sentence?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by common ingredients.

00:07

Sorry, we couldn’t come up with something fancier.

00:26

How would you correct this underlined segment from the passage, if at all?

00:31

a common ingredient—sugar?

00:34

And here are the potential answers...

00:40

In the original sentence, the writer uses an em dash to put some distance between “sugar”

00:46

and the rest of the sentence.

00:47

Hm, maybe the writer thinks the sentence needs to cut back on sweets.

00:50

In any case, this choice looks pretty good to us, but we’ll go through the rest of

00:54

the options just to be on the safe side.

00:57

No doubt, choice (B) is incorrect.

00:58

Semicolons are used to connect independent clauses, meaning clauses that can stand on

01:02

their own because they have a subject and verb.

01:05

The noun “sugar” just can’t make it alone, so we’re taking (B) out of consideration.

01:10

Option (C) doesn’t work either.

01:12

With the way this sentence is structured, some kind of punctuation is needed to set “sugar”

01:16

apart, while still connecting the noun to the sentence in a way that’s grammatically correct.

01:21

(D) sets “sugar” apart with an ellipsis.

01:24

It’s a fun idea, but it doesn’t fly grammatically.

01:27

Ellipses are usually used to show an omission of some kind. If we’re quoting something

01:32

and want to leave a bit out, we stick a “dot dot dot” in there to stand in for the part we’re omitting.

01:38

Ellipses are also used when writing dialogue, where they show that someone’s thoughts trail off.

01:42

It reminds us of the time...

01:45

Sorry, our brains wondered a bit there.

01:48

We gave the other options a shot, but choice (A) gets it right by using the em dash

01:51

to emphasize the noun “sugar.”

01:54

On a personal note....

01:55

Not only is (A), "no change," the correct answer, it was also the fortune that came

01:59

with our Kung Pao Beef right before we lost every last cent playing a game of piggy-bank

02:03

catch while standing over a subway grate.

02:06

Eerie.

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