Worked examples
Two examples
Example 1
- Check both sides: The store closes at nine / the pharmacy stays open. Both are complete sentences.
- A comma alone between them would be a comma splice. A semicolon can join them.
- A semicolon does its own joining, so no and after it.
Answer: The store closes at nine; the pharmacy stays open.
Example 2
- Check both sides: Because the store was closed cannot stand alone.
- A semicolon needs a complete sentence on each side, so it will not work here.
- An opening dependent clause takes a comma.
Answer: Because the store was closed, we went to the deli.
Where this is taught: Punctuation: Start Here, Part 2: Semicolons and colons
More practice: Quiz 44, Semicolons and colons · In your Kaplan book: Unit 1, Chapter 4, Lesson 3, “Run-Ons and Comma Splices”
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.