Punctuation Review
Review 2
Exercise A – Correct the faulty punctuation within the sentences.
1. Jackson Miller Ph D will be our instructor for this term.
2. “Please hold the line for a moment,” said the operator, “My computer screen just turned that scary blue
color.
3. A.K.C. is the abbreviation for the American Kennel Club, which registers purebred dogs and holds dog
shows; A.K. is the postal abbreviation for the state of Alaska.
4. “GDP” stands for ‘gross domestic product,’” said the announcer; “that measure used to be called the
GNP, or ‘gross national product.’”
5. In ordinary correspondence and other writing, we spell out the word “street”, but in addresses we
abbreviate the word as “St”.
6. Although usage sometimes differs, most people omit the periods in acronyms like N.A.S.A. and U.S.A.
7. Some acronyms, such as RAM, have become words in our technical vocabulary; some people have
forgotten that the letters stand for Random Access Memory.
8. My neighbors garden is very well-kept; but it seems to produce very few edible vegetables.
9. ID is the postal abbreviation for Idaho; the letters also stand for “identification” and for “identify” as in
“Please ID yourself to the person at the front desk.
10. “Do you know where we are going to lunch” asked Melanie. If it is an expensive place, I’ll need to
borrow some money.”
11. “Please tell me where we are going to lunch?” said Melanie. I hope we can go some place close to
the campus.”
12. It may seem strange that we use an apostrophe to show possession with nouns, but there is no
apostrophe in the possessives “his” and its.
13. “I’m trying to find my checkbook, and I’ve looked everywhere I can think…Oh, there it is under those
newspapers,” said Mr. Alexander.
14. There seems to be one unanswered question in that case, where the thieves hid the money after the
robbery,” said the detective.
15. The list says we need to bring: two pencils, one eraser, and five sheets of notebook paper when we
come to class to take the test.
EXERCISE B
Correct the punctuation errors then identify the reasons.
1. Comma omitted or inserted unnecessarily.
3. Comma misused for semicolon.
2. Apostrophe omitted or misused.
4. Semicolon misused for comma.
1. Tower high over the skyline of the city a beautiful skyscrapers glass walls reflect the mountains
standing at a distance from the city. _____ _____ _____ _____
2. The searchers looked all day for the puppy, they finally found him wet and hungry under the shelter of
a tree, that had fallen during the storm. _____ _____ _____ _____
3. That book on the table must be her’s; it’s not Linda’s and its not mine. _____ _____ _____ _____
4. Tomorrow we need to mow the yard, rake the leaves, and sweep the walks; then, we can go out to
dinner, take in a movie, and see our friends, finally on Monday we can all go back to work and get
some rest. _____ _____ _____ _____
5. Its almost eleven oclock and I don’t think I can finish this report before lunch so I think I’ll just wait and
finish its final version this afternoon. _____ _____ _____ _____
6. My car is not new; but it starts eagerly, runs dependently and gets good gas mileage, none of those
things is true of your’s, a fancy expensive new car. _____ _____ _____ _____
7. Tracy trying desperately to finish the marathon stumbled and fell in the last one hundred yards, then
got slowly to his feet, and walked slowly to the finish line. _____ _____ _____ _____
8. Since youre in a hurry to get back to the sore, where you left your purse; take my car and put it in my
spot, when you return. _____ _____ _____ _____
9. Theres no reason, is there why we can’t leave a few minutes early for the game and go by to pick up
Roland who doesn’t have any other way to get to the game? _____ _____ _____ _____
10. There’s no reason we can find, that explains why we cant make that last column of figures balance
with yesterdays report. _____ _____ _____ _____
Exercise C
Determine whether the numbered spots are punctuated correctly.
1. Yesterdays news was very encouraging, the stock market is up and prices are down.
2. After I left work yesterday I talked to Jack Kendall, a man who has a great reputation as a coach and
high ethical standards.
3. The empty bear’s den contained some fascinating items: assorted bones, a few scraps of bright yellow
cloth, and a rusty lunch box.
4. We installed that sign with one-way bolts that cannot ever be loosened with any wrench or screwdriver.
5. Picking up his coat from the chair; Jorge left the library, whispering softly to me, “I’m going out for
coffee; I can stay awake another minute in this stuffy room.”
6. Somewhere—no one can remember where—there’s a written report of that incident, the one that
involved dumping water on the crowed at the football game.
7. “I know I left my keys here somewhere, but I can’t ever find them when I need them, especially when
I’m in a hurry,” said Marcie.
8. Ever after his first day on the job stood out in his memory; for it gave him great satisfaction to know that
he had graduated and gotten a job.
9. The only person who could possibly have that information is my grandfather who has lived here in
Sprint City for almost 50 years.
10. The picnic ground’s only table has fallen to pieces, the pleasant place where we once at lunch as
become almost unusable.
11. A tall suntanned woman walked onto the field and called out, “Its time to take a break for water; this
heat is almost dangerous.”
12. Yesterday we took a difficult final exam in my history class, the questions were very complex and
required many specific facts in the answers.
13. “Look out” the man screamed! “That tree has fallen across the road, and we’ll run into it if you don’t
stop.”
14. “Look,” said Anita; “that car has run into the tree that fell across the road, but apparently there is little
damage to the car.”
15. Charles turned to me and asked, with a strange tone in his voice, “Did that reporter say, ‘No one was
hurt in the accident on Sycamore Street’?”
16. When the last student left the classroom, the instructor turned out the lights walked out the door, and
locked it behind her, her day’s work finished.
17. Walking slowly from the office, the two women picked up their jackets and then went out to find a
restaurant where they could buy an in expensive meal.
18. The women walked slowly down the street; they stopped in front of a restaurant, looked at a menu
displayed at the door, and walked on further down the street.
19. Jay said, “I am no certain, but I think the man sitting across the room is someone, who played
professional football here in town a few years ago.”
20. No one in the room at that time knew when the next meeting started, or where it would be held.
21. As almost everyone knows a few species of spiders are poisonous, but those in our garden are
harmless.
22. Dr. Stuart, who’s witticisms and puns are widely known and widely deplored, laughed heartily at his
own joke.
23. Another thing you will notice in Italy is the size of Italian paper money; the bill’s are much larger than
our’s.
24. The bell for ten-o’clock classes having run; I thanked Dr. Adams for her helpful suggestion and left.
25. “Our trip, said Aunt Edna, “was wonderfully exciting but I must admit that theres no place like home.”