Question

how is the following sentence correctly written?
aimee has lived in several different cities, including fort worth, texas, atlanta, georgia, walnut creek, california, and des moines, iowa.
a. aimee has lived in several different cities, including fort worth, texas, atlanta, georgia, walnut creek, california, and des moines, iowa.
b. aimee has lived in several different cities, including fort worth, texas atlanta, georgia walnut creek, california and des moines, iowa.
c. aimee has lived in several different cities, including fort worth texas atlanta georgia walnut creek california and des moines iowa.
d. aimee has lived in several different cities, including fort worth, texas; atlanta, georgia; walnut creek, california; and des moines, iowa.

Explanation:

To correctly punctuate a list of cities with their states, we use semicolons to separate each city - state pair when the pairs themselves contain commas (to avoid confusion). In option D, "Fort Worth, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Walnut Creek, California; and Des Moines, Iowa" uses semicolons between each city - state pair, which is the proper way to list them. Option A uses commas between all elements, which can cause confusion. Options B and C incorrectly omit necessary commas within the city - state pairs and use incorrect punctuation between the pairs.

Answer:

D. Aimee has lived in several different cities, including Fort Worth, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Walnut Creek, California; and Des Moines, Iowa.