A list punctuation question tests whether you can tell where each item starts and ends. Read around the blank to see whether the missing mark introduces the list or sits between items. Then find each whole item and look for the mark separating items elsewhere in the sentence. Use commas when no item contains a comma, and semicolons when any item contains one. Between items, copy the list’s separator rather than choosing a mark because it sounds like a pause.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with the words introducing the examples. Where does the list begin, and where does the blank sit?
- Hint 2
Check the punctuation between the later items. Does any individual item contain a comma of its own?
Step-by-step
Follow the list’s separators
Step 1Find where the first item ends
The words landmarks like start a list of Marco’s examples, and every option supplies fountains as the first one. Where does the punctuation after fountains go? Bridges and historic theaters follow as more examples, so the mark separates list items rather than introducing the list.
- Step 2
Find the existing separator
What separator does the sentence already show? The ending bridges, and historic theaters puts a comma between the later items. None of the three items contains a comma of its own. In a list like this, commas separate the items; semicolons separate items that contain commas.
- Step 3
Use the same separator
The version with a colon and the version with a dash would make the later landmarks explain fountains instead of continuing the list. The version with no mark runs the first two items together. A comma after the first item matches the comma in bridges, and historic theaters, so fountains, keeps the examples separate. Choice B.