16Hit1600
Standard English ConventionsEasy–MediumSemicolons between list items that contain commas

Standard English Conventions practice question

The tour visits Lyon, France ____ Turin, Italy; and Graz, Austria.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  1. A. ;Correct
  2. B. ,
  3. C. :
  4. D. and

Answer: A. ;

Each item already contains a comma (city, country), so the items are separated by semicolons — as the later '; and Graz' shows.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. ,
A comma would be lost among the commas inside the items, and it doesn't match the semicolon used later in the list.
C. :
A colon introduces a list; it doesn't separate items within one.
D. and
'and' between the first two items, then a semicolon, breaks the list's pattern.

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