Punctuations (Writing And Language Section)

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In my last post, I talked about Writing and Language section of SAT. Today, I will talk about an important topic of this section, Punctuations.

What are punctuations ? According to Wikipedia, Punctuation is the use of spacing, conventional signs, and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading of handwritten and printed text, whether read silently or aloud. Read the following sentence-

Oh my God ? Erik met an accident yesterday-He is still in critical condition,

When you read this sentence, don't you feel that this sentence is odd ?  

Now, read the following sentence-

Oh my God! Erik met an accident yesterday. He is still in critical condition.

How does the sentence look now? Does it look better ?

This sentence looks better because of proper positioning of punctuations. For SAT, students should have a general idea of punctuations and their proper positioning.

We will study three types of punctuations -
  1. STOP Punctuation - Period(.), Semicolon(;), Comma+FANBOYS, Question Mark(?), Exclamation Mark(!)  (FANBOYS- For,And,Not,But,Or,Yet,and So)
  2. HALF - STOP Punctuation - Colon(:),Long Dash(-)
  3. GO Punctuation-Comma(,), or no punctuation.
Now, you might be thinking that when should we use these punctuations.

STOP punctuation is used when you want to link ONLY complete ideas. 
HALF-STOP punctuation must be preceded by a complete idea.
GO punctuation can link anything EXCEPT two complete ideas. 

Vertical Line Test

Whenever there is STOP or HALF STOP punctuation changing in the answer choices, use the vertical line test.

  1. Draw a vertical line at the proposed punctuation.
  2. Determine whether you have two complete ideas, a complete and an incomplete idea, or two incomplete ideas.
I request the students to practice drills of Writing And Language section from College Board guide and from Princeton Review books.

I will upload a test for this section and for reading section in my next post.

Also, I hope that US students are preparing well for their August SAT.

If you have any doubts, you can mail me your doubts at - sharma.nimit@yahoo.in




Keep Learning :)



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