Sentence Combining: Punctuation EOC Practice English 351 Comments/notes:

Bell Work – 3 mins. Grab the handout on the basket table. Look on the seating chart to find your seat #. Sit with your group (be ready to pay attention).

Today We will learn: Passive vs Active Voice, Sentence-combining + punctuation & “Clear, concise sentences”

Commas are used… To separate two independent clauses joined by the words and, but, nor, for or yet After introductory clauses beginning with words like if, when, because, after, before, although, and other conjunctions After long introductory phrases To separate three or more items in a list To separate two or more words describing a word that follows

Semicolons are used… Before certain joining words like however and nevertheless when they join two sentences – a comma goes after the joining word I planned on taking French next year; however, I decided to take German instead.

Punctuation A period or comma at the end of a quotation is always placed before (inside) the quotation mark Exclamation points or question marks stay inside the quotation mark Jamie whispered to Maggie, “Do you think Mark’s cute?”

“Clear, Concise Sentences” When an EOC question asks you for the most ‘clear, concise sentence,’ it is asking you to select the most ‘efficient’ sentence that is straightforward, understandable, & uses easy to read vocabulary.

Which is the clearer? Understandable, easy to read, straightforward, efficient: Arriving at the theater, people saw the actor getting out of the limousine. When the actor arrived at the theater, people watched him get out of his limousine. Which is clearer & why?

Which is the clearer? Understandable, easy to read, straightforward, efficient: Walking out of the bank, I was careful to put the deposit receipt in my pocket. I was careful to put the deposit receipt in my pocket walking out of the bank. Which is clearer & why?

Which is the clearer? Understandable, easy to read, straightforward, efficient: Last night, Elsa’s mother told Elsa that she would be able to stay up later than usual Elsa’s mother told her last night that she would be able to stay up later than usual Which is clearer & why?

Which is the clearer? Understandable, easy to read, straightforward, efficient: The students who work on the yearbook committee only talk on Friday afternoons. The students working on the yearbook committee only talk on Friday afternoons. Which is clearer & why?