48 Practice Activities: Commas, Semicolons, and Colons
48 Practice Activities: Commas, Semicolons, and Colons
Commas and Semicolon
Read the following sentences. Determine if the empty spaces need a semicolon, a comma, or no punctuation. Type your answers in the text frame below:
Pyura spinifera __ commonly called the sea tulip __ is a species of ascidian that lives in coastal waters at depths of up to 260 feet. As with almost all other ascidians __ sea tulips are filter feeders. Its name comes from the organism’s appearance __ it looks like a knobby “bulb” or flower attached to a long stalk. Sea tulips come in a variety of colors, including white, pink, yellow, orange, and purple __ note that __ the coloration of sea tulips depends upon their association with a symbiotic sponge that covers their surface.
You may spot this in ocean waters near Sydney __ Australia __ Central Coast __ Australia __ and Newcastle__ Australia.
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Show Answers
Pyura spinifera _,_ commonly called the sea tulip _,_ is a species of ascidian that lives in coastal waters at depths of up to 260 feet. As with almost all other ascidians _,_ sea tulips are filter feeders. Its name comes from the organism’s appearance _;_ it looks like a knobby “bulb” or flower attached to a long stalk. Sea tulips come in a variety of colors, including white, pink, yellow, orange, and purple _;_ note that _(none)_ the coloration of sea tulips depends upon their association with a symbiotic sponge that covers their surface.
You may spot this in ocean waters near Sydney _,_ Australia _;_ Central Coast _,_ Australia _;_ and Newcastle _,_ Australia.
Semicolons and Colons
Are the semicolons and colons used correctly in the following sentences? Write your corrections and comments in the text frame below. The sentences have been numbered to aid in your comments.
(1) The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient analogue computer likely used for several purposes including: predicting astronomical positions and eclipses and calculating Olympiads: the cycles of the ancient Olympic Games. (2) The device is a complex clockwork mechanism composed of at least 30 meshing bronze gears. (3) Its remains were found as one lump; it was recovered from a shipwreck, and the device was originally housed in a wooden box. (4) This lump was later separated into 82 separate fragments after extensive conservation work.
(5) The artifact was recovered probably in July 1901 from the Antikythera shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera. (6) Believed to have been designed and constructed by Greek scientists; the instrument has recently been dated to 205 BC. (7) After the knowledge of this technology was lost at some point in antiquity, technological artifacts approaching its complexity and workmanship did not appear again until the development of mechanical astronomical clocks in Europe in the fourteenth century.
(8) All known fragments of the Antikythera mechanism are kept at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
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