IXL | Semicolons, colons, and commas: review

Add a comma or semicolon if needed. Otherwise, submit the text without any additional punctuation.

Vivien Leigh, a famous actress in her own right, was married to film star Laurence if the two appeared in numerous movies together.

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question

Add a comma or semicolon if needed. Otherwise, submit the text without any additional punctuation.

Human hands and wrists contain a total of fifty-four if feet and ankles have a total of fifty-two bones.

key idea

Use a comma to separate two complete sentences that are joined with a coordinating conjunction, such as and, or, but, or so. However, if the coordinating conjunction joins verbs or verb phrases in a compound predicate, a comma should not be used.

Wyatt was reserved around new people, but he was hardly shy.

Wyatt was reserved around new people but was hardly shy.

Also use a comma after a dependent (or subordinate) clause if it is followed by a complete sentence. These dependent clauses usually start with a subordinating conjunction, such as after, although, or because.

Although Wyatt was reserved around new people, he was hardly shy.

Use a semicolon to connect two closely related sentences that are not joined with a coordinating conjunction.

Wyatt was hardly shy; he was simply reserved around new people.

Also use a semicolon to connect two sentences that are joined with a conjunctive adverb, such as consequently, however, or therefore.

Wyatt was hardly shy; nevertheless, he was reserved around new people.

Use a colon to introduce a list after a complete sentence. If a list does not follow a complete sentence, do not use punctuation to introduce the list.

My parents have visited much of Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

My parents have visited much of Western Europe, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

Use commas to separate three or more items in a series. Put a comma after each item in the list, except for the last one.

Our speakers will be Kevin O'Malley, Rachel Stein, and Linda Wu.

Use semicolons to separate items in a series when using commas would be unclear, such as when one or more items in the series already contain commas.

Our speakers will be Kevin O'Malley, an English professor; Rachel Stein, a print journalist; and Linda Wu, a blogger.

solution

There are two closely related sentences that are not joined with a coordinating conjunction, so you should use a semicolon.

$Confetti$

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MM.1Use semicolons and commas to separate clauses

MM.2Use semicolons, colons, and commas with lists

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