Praxis Writing : Identifying Punctuation Errors
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Identifying Other Punctuation Errors
Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.
Jeremy flew to Europe last week: He said he wanted to be alone for awhile.
week,
week;
week:
week...
week;
This sentence uses a colon where a semicolon would be more appropriate. While a colon requires an independent clause before it, when trying to separate two independent clauses it is best to use a semicolon. Also, in the example sentence, the first letter of the second clause is incorrectly capitalized. The best version of the sentence reads, "Jeremy flew to Europe last week; he said he wanted to be alone for awhile."
Example Question #2 : Identifying Other Punctuation Errors
Select the underlined word or phrase that needs to be changed to make the sentence correct. Some sentences contain no error at all.
According to the survey; business owners who employed more than one hundred workers were twice as likely to oppose unionization as were owners of smaller businesses. No error
survey;
No error
who
were twice as likely
survey;
The error here occurs in the punctuation of the dependent introductory clause. Since this opening clause is introductory in nature, it is considered a dependent clause. Semicolons can never punctuate dependent clauses, they must follow independent clauses. The rest of the sentence was correct as written.
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