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Question

Difficulty: EasySemicolons

The following sentence is missing punctuation between two clauses. What punctuation mark should be used to correctly join these clauses?

Answer:The chemist carefully calibrated the scale 【;】 she needed the measurements to be extremely precise.

Answer

A semicolon (;)
A semicolon is the correct punctuation mark to join two independent clauses that are closely related in thought, especially when no coordinating conjunction is used.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical structure of the clauses on either side of the blank.
Both 'The chemist carefully calibrated the scale' and 'she needed the measurements to be extremely precise' are independent clauses because they can each stand alone as a complete sentence.
To determine the relationship between the clauses and what punctuation is appropriate to link them.
2
Select the correct punctuation mark to join two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction.
A semicolon must be used to link two closely related independent clauses when no coordinating conjunction (such as 'and', 'but', or 'so') is present.
To avoid grammatical errors like comma splices or run-on sentences.

Key Concept

Using semicolons to link independent clauses
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Topics

Semicolons

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