Question

The following sentence correctly uses semicolons:

In Shakespeare's classic play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the characters include
Hamlet, the prince; Gertrude, the mother; Claudius, the uncle-stepfather; and
Horatio, the faithful friend.
True
False

Answer 1

The sentence incorrectly uses semicolons to separate items in a list. Commas should be used instead.

Step-by-step explanation:

The sentence incorrectly uses semicolons. Semicolons are used to join two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction, to separate items in a list if the items contain commas, or to separate items in a complex series that already contains commas.

In this sentence, commas should be used to separate the characters in the list instead of semicolons. The correct sentence would be:
In Shakespeare's classic play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the characters include Hamlet, the prince, Gertrude, the mother, Claudius, the uncle-stepfather, and Horatio, the faithful friend.

Learn more about Proper use of punctuation in a sentence