ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Colons, Hyphens, and Apostrophes Videos 9 videos

ACT English 3.1 Punctuation
1066 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 1. How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

ACT English 3.2 Punctuation
973 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 2. How should we properly hyphenate the words in this sentence?

ACT English 3.3 Punctuation
679 Views

ACT English Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 3. Where should we place the apostrophe to properly indicate possession?

See All

ACT English 3.4 Punctuation 522 Views


Share It!


Description:

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 4. Which choice best formats this list of items?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Grocery Stores. Where monsters shop for food.

00:09

How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

00:12

Julio went to the store for some groceries, milk, bread, coffee and cheese.

00:24

Okay, so we've got a nice list of items here, without an Oxford comma.

00:27

But wait, check it out.

00:29

"Groceries" describes the rest of the items in the sentence. It shouldn't just be thrown

00:33

in there with each of the specific items Julio is buying.

00:37

When we're listing items that fit in a category, we often like to use our little buddy, the

00:41

colon. So C and D look promising. They're the only

00:44

options that use one.

00:46

Here's where this one gets tricky. After we bring a colon into the mix, the oxford comma

00:51

isn't really optional anymore.

00:52

The final item of a list needs to be preceded by both a comma and an apostrophe, and C is

00:58

the only one with the comma before the last item.

01:01

Nice work. You win an apos-trophy.

Related Videos

ACT English 2.2 Punctuation
2070 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 2. Where should the semi-colon be placed?

ACT English 3.1 Punctuation
1066 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 1. How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

ACT English 3.2 Punctuation
973 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 2. How should we properly hyphenate the words in this sentence?

ACT English 2.1 Punctuation
519 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 1. Which choice of punctuation best completes the sentence?

ACT English 2.4 Punctuation
467 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 4. Which punctuation fits best in this sentence?