Punctuation

Question: Which is the correct use of parentheses?

Answer: Parentheses contain information that clarifies or furthers what comes before them. In most cases, they can be replaced with commas, and the sentence will still make sense.

Question: Which is the correct use of a semicolon?

Answer: Semicolons connect two independent clauses, denoting a relationship between the two in a manner the period does not. The two clauses must be independent, meaning they function as sentences on their own.

Question: Which sentence correctly uses the Oxford comma?

Answer: The Oxford comma comes before the conjunction in a list. Its use is hotly debated, but it can prove useful in complex lists.

Question: Which use of a colon is incorrect?

Answer: A colon can be used to begin a series of words, to separate two independent clauses such that the second explains the first, and for emphasis.

Question: Fill in the blank: This old thing? ___ broken!

Answer: It’s, with an apostrophe, is a conjunction of it and is. Its, without an apostrophe, is used when referring to possession.

Question: Which is the correct use of an ellipsis?

Answer: The ellipses consists of three periods used in informal writing to denote the trailing off of thought or to promote suspense. In quoted material, it can be used to omit portions of the cited text in writing. Each period can have a single space after it, although some use it without spaces.

Question: Which correctly uses a period/full stop?

Answer: Extra periods/full stops are not necessary if an abbreviation ends the sentence.

Question: Which is the correct use of an em dash?

Answer: An em dash is used in place of a comma, colon, or parenthesis. It is twice as long as an en dash.

Question: Which is the correct use of an en dash?

Answer: An en dash is used to show time spans [11:00–11:30], scores [it was 0–2 when the game ended], conflict [the liberal–conservative debate is unending], compound adjectives with multiword elements [English–Scotch-Irish ancestry], and connection, as in the correct answer to this quiz question.