Colon, Semi-Colon, Parentheses, and Dashes

Choose the correct sentence.

• The loudspeaker crackled; "The 5:30 p.m. flight to New York is now boarding."

• The loudspeaker crackled, "The 5:30 p.m. flight to New York is now boarding."

• The loudspeaker crackled: "The 5:30 p.m. flight to New York is now boarding."

• The loudspeaker crackled "The 5:30 p.m. flight to New York is now boarding."

a long line, sometimes shown as two short lines: --

• dash

• hyphen

• parenthesis

Which sentence uses dashes correctly?

• My little brother-- who annoys everyone will not be there-- tonight.

• My little brother--who annoys everyone--will not be there tonight.

• My little--brother who annoys--everyone will not be there tonight.

Which is the correct way to use the dash in the following sentence: The Beatles (the most famous rock band in history) were from England.

• The Beatles, the most famous rock band in history-- were from England.

• The Beatles-- the most famous rock band in history-- were from England.

• The Beatles - the most famous rock band in history; were from England.

• The Beatles-- the most famous rock band-- in history were from England.

Colons, semi-colons and dashes go between independent clauses in a sentence.

• True

• False

True or false? A semi-colon marks a longer pause than a colon.

• True

• False

True or false? You can use a dash to show a moment of surprise or drama.

• True

• False

There are two places I have always wanted to visit __ The Arctic and Antarctica.

• :

• -

• ;

• .

What piece of punctuation would fit in the blank. The sentence is from a postcard. The weather in Spain is lovely __ wish you were here.

• :

• ;

• -

Which sentence uses a colon correctly?

• A) She had three favorite colors: red, blue, and green.

• B) She had three favorite colors; red, blue, and green.

• C) She had three favorite colors - red, blue, and green.

• D) She had three favorite colors (red, blue, and green).