Question

question 10 (5 points)
which punctuation mark could be added to make the following sentence more easily understood?

after eating tommy said that he was going outside to throw the ball against the wall.

a) semicolon
b) comma
c) hyphen
d) quotation marks

Explanation:

Analyze the sentence structure

The sentence begins with an introductory phrase, "After eating," followed by the main clause, "Tommy said that he was going outside..." Without punctuation, "After eating Tommy" can be misread as Tommy being the object of eating, creating a humorous or confusing misinterpretation.

Identify the required punctuation

An introductory prepositional/gerund phrase should be separated from the main clause by a comma to prevent temporary ambiguity and clarify that "Tommy" is the subject of the main clause, not the object of "eating."

Evaluate the options

• A) Semicolon: Used to link independent clauses, which is incorrect here.
• B) Comma: Correctly separates the introductory phrase "After eating" from the main clause.
• C) Hyphen: Used to join words, which is incorrect here.
• D) Quotation marks: Used for direct speech, which is incorrect here since the sentence uses indirect speech ("said that...").

Answer:

• (A) Semicolon
• (B) Comma (Correct answer)
• (C) Hyphen
• (D) Quotation marks