Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
A. He was tired, and it was late, it had been a long day.
B. He was tired and it was late it had been a long day.
C. He was tired and it was late; it had been a long day.
D. He was tired and it was late, it had been a long day.
Answer (3)
The answer is c. He was tired and it was late; it had been a long day. The semi-colon helps distinguish the two separate parts. The part where it says "it had been a long day" doesn't make sense if added by a comma.
The punctuated sentence correctly is 'C. He was tired and it was late; it had been a long day.' The use of the semi-colon links two closely related independent clauses without resulting in a comma splice or run-on sentence.
The sentence that is punctuated correctly is: C. He was tired and it was late; it had been a long day. This sentence uses a semi-colon to correctly join two independent clauses that are closely related in theme. Option A incorrectly uses a comma to join independent clauses resulting in a comma splice. Option B lacks appropriate punctuation between the clauses, creating a run-on sentence. Option D is also incorrect due to a comma splice. It's important to use correct punctuation to enhance readability and to ensure that the relationship between different parts of a sentence is clear.
Correct punctuation is essential, much like using faulty parallelism and correct parallelism can improve sentence structure and clarity. For example, 'It was both a long movie and poorly written.' is an example of faulty parallelism, which disrupts the flow of the sentence. The corrected version, 'The movie was both long and poorly written.' maintains parallel structure and facilitates better understanding.
The correctly punctuated sentence is C: 'He was tired and it was late; it had been a long day.' This option uses a semi-colon appropriately to connect two independent clauses, avoiding grammatical errors like comma splices or run-on sentences. Therefore, C is the right choice for correct punctuation.
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