Punctuation power: semicolons to ellipses: fill in the blanks · Grade 6

The word bank and sentences

Directions: Read each sentence. Choose the best word from the word bank and write it on the line.

• Word bank: cross out each word as you use it
• hyphen ____ serial comma ____ apostrophe · ellipsis · colon · dashes brackets · semicolon
• 1 An · shows possession, as in the cat's bowl, or marks missing letters, as in can't.
• 2 A pair of · can set off an interruption — like this one — for emphasis.
• 3 let a writer add their own words inside a quotation to make it clear.
• 4 A · joins words that work together, as in a well-known author.
• 5 A · often introduces a list, an explanation or a striking example.
• 6 A · can join two complete sentences that are closely related.
• 7 An · shows that words have been left out of a quotation or that a thought trails off.
• 8 A comma placed before the final 'and' in a list is called a ____.