Return to Lesson 18

Exercise A: Put the colons, semi-colons and quotation marks where they belong in the following sentences.

1. Republicans make up 58 percent of the registered voters in this county; Democrats, 40 percent.

2. Mark usually awoke at 6:30 in the morning; however, this morning he overslept.

3. "Will you please hurry," Arnold called to his wife.  "It is time to leave."

4. The professional ball player signed these words on my baseball: Always play fair and you'll be a winner.

5. There was a lot of junk left in the desk I bought at the auction: paperclips, rubber bands, thumbtacks, scraps of paper, old envelopes and a dried-up ballpoint pen.

Exercise B:  Cross out the punctuation that is wrong, circle the punctuation that is right and add the punctuation that is missing.

Examination:  The following sentences illustrate the Punctuation Rules in this lesson, but the specific punctuation has been left out.  Place the colons, semi-colons and quotation marks where they should be.

1. Betty told the other club members, "Yesterday, when I went to pick up my daughter from dance class, she said to me, 'Mom, I was able to stand on my toes for a whole minute!' "

2. I never liked the play "Oklahoma"; therefore, I never bought the soundtrack.

3. The term "blitz" has a different meaning today than it did in the 1940's.

4. The hypnotist gave Mrs. Murray a list of instructions: find a quiet room away from distractions; close the curtains or blinds; put the lamp on its lowest setting; sit back in a soft, comfortable chair.

5. The policeman shouted, "Get out of my way!" as he chased the thief down the sidewalk.

6. I knew the game was nearly over; the crowd began edging toward the parking lot.

7. I had not planned to work long at that job; besides, the pay was lousy.

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