Standard English ConventionsEasy–MediumSemicolons in a series with internal commas
Standard English Conventions practice question
The delegates travelled from Austin, Texas ____ Denver, Colorado; and Portland, Oregon.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- A. Texas;Correct
- B. Texas,
- C. Texas:
- D. Texas
Answer: A. Texas;
Each item in this list already contains a comma (city, state). To keep the items from blurring together, the items themselves are separated by semicolons — as the rest of the sentence already does.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Texas,
- With commas both inside and between the items, a reader can't tell 'Austin, Texas, Denver' apart as two places rather than three.
- C. Texas:
- A colon introduces a list; it doesn't separate the items within one.
- D. Texas
- With nothing after 'Texas', the first two items run together.
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Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
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