16Hit1600
Standard English ConventionsMediumColon introducing a list

Standard English Conventions practice question

Three ingredients are essential to the sauce ____ tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil.

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

  1. A. sauce: tomatoesCorrect
  2. B. sauce; tomatoes
  3. C. sauce, tomatoes
  4. D. sauce tomatoes

Answer: A. sauce: tomatoes

'Three ingredients are essential to the sauce' is a complete clause, and what follows names those ingredients. A colon after a complete clause introduces exactly that kind of list or explanation.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. sauce; tomatoes
A semicolon joins two complete clauses. 'tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil' is a list, not a clause, so it can't sit on the other side of a semicolon.
C. sauce, tomatoes
A comma here makes 'tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil' read as a loose continuation of the sentence rather than the announced list. The colon is what signals 'here they are'.
D. sauce tomatoes
With nothing at the boundary, the list crashes into the clause: 'the sauce tomatoes'. Some mark is needed to introduce it.

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