8th grade punctuation

Example

Which sentence is punctuated correctly? • She wore a bright, red scarf. • She wore a bright red scarf.

1. Non-restrictive clauses and appositives take commas; restrictive clauses (including 'that' clauses) do not. Coordinate adjectives (you could put 'and' between them) take a comma.
2. 'bright' describes 'red', not the scarf; you would not say 'bright and red', so no comma.
3. So the answer is: She wore a bright red scarf.

Answer: She wore a bright red scarf.

Example

Which shortened quotation uses an ellipsis correctly and keeps the meaning? Original: "I was nervous, I admit, but I walked onto the stage." • "I was … stage." • "Nervous … but … walked." • "I … admit … stage." • "I was nervous … but I walked onto the stage."

1. Use an ellipsis to remove unnecessary words from a quotation, keeping it grammatical and faithful to the original.
2. The ellipsis removes 'I admit' and the rest still makes sense.
3. So the answer is: "I was nervous … but I walked onto the stage."

Answer: "I was nervous … but I walked onto the stage."

Example

Choose the correctly punctuated form. My brother is ___.

1. Hyphenate words that work together as one adjective before a noun (a well-known author), but not after the noun (the author is well known) or after -ly adverbs.
2. After the verb, no hyphens.
3. Put it back into the sentence and read it aloud: "My brother is ten years old."
4. So the answer is: ten years old

Answer: ten years old

Example

What punctuation (if any) belongs at [?] When the bell rang [?] everyone left.

1. Semicolons join two independent clauses without a conjunction (also before however/therefore); commas go before and/but/so between clauses and after openers.
2. After an introductory dependent clause: comma.
3. So the answer is: ,

Answer: ,

Example

Which sentence uses punctuation correctly? • The results were clear: the new design was faster. • The results were: clear the new design was faster. • The results: were clear, the new design was faster. • The results were clear; : the new design was faster.

1. A colon follows a complete independent clause and introduces a list, an explanation or an example.
2. The second part explains the first.
3. So the answer is: The results were clear: the new design was faster.

Answer: The results were clear: the new design was faster.