CELSA CELSA - Combined English Language Skills Assessment Punctuation and Capitalization Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence uses a colon correctly?
- The ingredients are: flour, sugar, and eggs.
- She needs: to study harder.
- He brought three things: a map, a compass, and water. (Correct answer)
- I think: that you are right.
Correct answer: He brought three things: a map, a compass, and water.
A colon correctly introduces a list when a complete independent clause precedes it.
Question 2: Choose the sentence with correct end punctuation for a direct question.
- She asked if he was ready?
- Did he finish the assignment.
- Can you help me with this problem? (Correct answer)
- I wonder whether she will come.
Correct answer: Can you help me with this problem?
A direct question ('Can you help me?') ends with a question mark, while indirect questions do not.
Question 3: Which sentence correctly capitalizes a direction?
- Drive South on the highway for two miles.
- The South has a rich cultural heritage. (Correct answer)
- Turn south at the next intersection.
- They traveled to the south of France last South.
Correct answer: The South has a rich cultural heritage.
'South' is capitalized when referring to a specific geographic region, not when indicating a compass direction.
Question 4: Select the sentence with correct use of quotation marks.
- She said, 'I will be there soon'.
- She said, "I will be there soon." (Correct answer)
- She said "I will be there soon".
- She said, I will be there soon.
Correct answer: She said, "I will be there soon."
In American English, periods and commas go inside closing quotation marks, and dialogue is set off with a comma after the speech tag.
Question 5: Which sentence uses a hyphen correctly?
- She is a well known author.
- She is a well-known author. (Correct answer)
- She is a well-known-author.
- She is a wellknown author.
Correct answer: She is a well-known author.
Compound modifiers like 'well-known' are hyphenated when they appear before the noun they modify.
Question 6: Choose the correctly punctuated appositive phrase.
- My neighbor, Dr. Reyes is a cardiologist.
- My neighbor Dr. Reyes, is a cardiologist.
- My neighbor, Dr. Reyes, is a cardiologist. (Correct answer)
- My neighbor Dr. Reyes is, a cardiologist.
Correct answer: My neighbor, Dr. Reyes, is a cardiologist.
An appositive phrase that renames a noun is set off by commas on both sides.
CELSA CELSA - Combined English Language Skills Assessment Punctuation and Capitalization Questions and Answers 2
Which sentence uses a colon correctly?