Worked examples
Two examples
Example 1
- Two complete sentences: the rent went up / we had to move. A comma and a joining word can join them.
- Which joining word? The rent going up caused the move. So gives a result. But would signal a surprise, and there is none.
- The comma goes before the joining word.
Answer: The rent went up, so we had to move.
Example 2
- Is the part after and a complete sentence? “Closed the drawer” has no subject of its own.
- So this is one subject, she, with two verbs: counted and closed.
- The comma before and is only for joining two complete sentences. Here, no comma.
Answer: She counted the money and closed the drawer.
Where this is taught: Sentences: Start Here, Part 2: Clauses and kinds of sentences
More practice: Quiz 34, Combining sentences · In your Kaplan book: Unit 1, Chapter 4, Lesson 2, “Compound and Complex Sentences”
The drill
Ten questions
In each sentence, open the drop-down and choose the words that make the sentence correct, the way the GED test asks. A few questions ask you to tap a whole sentence instead. Then press Check my answers at the bottom.In each sentence, circle the choice in the brackets that makes the sentence correct; where whole sentences are given, circle one. The answer key, with the reasoning, is on the last page.