A list punctuation question tests how you separate items from the details inside them. Read around the blank to decide whether you're starting a list or separating its items. Then find how the list is set up, and check which words belong to each item. A colon starts a list after a full sentence; commas separate simple items; semicolons separate items containing commas. Without a mark, there's no break. Misplaced marks can mix up items and their details.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the list from Mei Alvarez through Ben Okafor to find where each organizer's description ends.
- Hint 2
Compare the marks within and between list items. What job does each kind of mark do?
Step-by-step
Match the list's punctuation
Step 1Place the blank in the list
The words credits three organizers for coordinating events set up a list, and the colon introduces it. Where does the blank sit within that list? Mei Alvarez's item comes first, Ben Okafor's comes next, and and volunteer coordinator Lila Chen begins the last item. The blank ends Ben's description, so we're separating organizers, not starting a new explanation.
- Step 2
Separate items from their descriptions
What pattern does the list already give us? In venues; logistics manager Ben Okafor, a semicolon separates Mei's whole item from Ben's. The comma in Ben Okafor, who arranges permits instead joins Ben's name to his description, as the commas do for Mei and Lila. This list uses semicolons between items because the items contain commas. A semicolon has that job inside a list even when the items aren't full sentences.
- Step 3
Finish the second item
Which version gives Ben's item the needed ending? The version with no mark runs his item into Lila's, and the comma version blurs the break between items. A colon would wrongly make Lila's work explain Ben's instead of adding another organizer. Seattle; closes Ben's item, so and volunteer coordinator Lila Chen can begin the third item. Choice B.