CELSA - Combined English Language Skills Assessment Punctuation and Capitalization Questions and Answers Flashcards

Identify the sentence with correct use of an ellipsis.

Answer: She whispered, "I don't know … what to do."

An ellipsis within quoted speech correctly indicates a pause or omission of words.

Which sentence uses parentheses correctly?

Answer: The exam (which covers chapters 1–5) is on Friday.

Parentheses are used in pairs to enclose supplementary information within a sentence.

Which sentence correctly capitalizes a school subject?

Answer: She excels in mathematics and science.

General school subjects like 'mathematics' and 'science' are not proper nouns and are not capitalized.

Choose the sentence with correct use of a dash (em dash).

Answer: She had one goal—to graduate with honors.

An em dash emphasizes the phrase that follows and replaces a colon or comma for dramatic effect.

Which sentence correctly omits unnecessary commas?

Answer: The tall dark building stood on the corner.

Cumulative adjectives that build on each other ('tall dark building') do not require commas between them.

Select the sentence with correct capitalization of a family title.

Answer: I called Mom this morning.

Family titles like 'Mom' are capitalized when used as a name (without a possessive pronoun before them).