Grammar & Punctuation

Punctuation Usage

Mastery of colons, semi-colons, quotation marks, parentheses, and apostrophes for possession.

Questions are typically formatted in an office or business setting.

What the exam tests

Identifying the Most Correct Sentence

Given four or five similar sentences, select the one that follows all punctuation and grammar rules.

Error Identification

A sentence or short passage is provided; determine if it contains structural errors, misspellings, or improper punctuation.

Counting Errors

Lines of text are given; identify the exact number of errors (e.g., 1, 2, 3, or none).

Combining Sentences

Merge two separate sentences into one grammatically correct statement using commas, semi-colons, and parentheses.

›Place the apostrophe before the 's' for singular possession (e.g., Katie's) and after the 's' for plural possession (e.g., teachers').
›Use an apostrophe for 'it's' only when it is a contraction for 'it is' or 'it has'.

!Do not use apostrophes with possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, theirs, ours, yours, whose.

›Use a semicolon to separate two main clauses not joined by a conjunction (and, but, or) but with a close relationship.
›Use semicolons to separate list items that already contain commas.

›Use a colon to introduce a list, especially when an introductory word like 'following' is not used.
›Use a colon to introduce long quotations or to separate two main clauses when a semicolon is not preferred.

›Use quotation marks only for direct quotations.
›Periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks.
›Place question marks inside the quotes if the quote itself is a question; outside if the entire sentence is a question.

›Use parentheses to enclose words that provide clarification.
›If an entire sentence is inside the parentheses, the period goes inside; otherwise, the period remains outside.

Which sentence correctly uses an apostrophe for possession?

A.Katies' good performance earned her a bonus.

B.Katies good performance, earned her, a bonus.

C.Katie's good performance earned her a bonus.

D.None of the above.

Singular possession requires the apostrophe before the 's' (Katie's). Option A incorrectly places it after 's' as if 'Katie' were plural.

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