Question

Which of the following is punctuated correctly?

a. I practiced my presentation for three hours this afternoon, it is on management strategies.
b. I practiced my presentation for three hours this afternoon it is on: management strategies.
c. I practiced my presentation for three hours this afternoon; it is on management strategies. Determine which punctuation rule is illustrated by the following sentence.
d. I wonder whether I will see Mary Ortega, founder of Season Fruit Shipping; Jose Arenas, head shipping agent at Produce Plus; or Delia Finnegan, manager of Finnegan Fruit Growers.

Answer 1

1. The sentence that is punctuated correctly is:

c. I practiced my presentation for three hours this afternoon; it is on management strategies.

2. The punctuation rule illustrated by the sentence is:

Use a semicolon to separate items in a series when one or more of the items contain internal commas.

Step-by-step explanation:

1. Options A and B contain run-on sentences, which are the result of incorrectly joining two independent clauses with either nothing at all or just a comma but no conjunction. Option C, on the other hand, punctuates correctly when it uses a semicolon. A semicolon properly joins independent clauses without causing them to become a run-on sentence.

2. When we list items in a series, it is common to separate them with commas. However, the items themselves main contain internal commas, which is precisely the case here - for example: Mary Ortega, founder of Season Fruit Shipping . When that happens, we use a semicolon to separate the different items.