punctuation

Semicolons and complex lists

Which is correct?
An MRP system should satisfy three objectives: ensuring that materials and products are available for production and delivery; maintaining the lowest possible level of ___________ planning manufacturing activities, delivery schedules and purchasing activities.
a. inventory and
b. inventory; and
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Colons and semicolons

Which is correct?
A bar code symbol typically consists of five _____ a quiet zone, a start character, data characters, a stop character and another quiet zone.
a. parts:
b. parts;
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When does AP condone the serial comma?

Which is correct?
Degaussing is used for a wide and disparate variety of items including ship hulls, _______ and CRT television sets and computer monitors.
a. storage media
b. storage media,
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Commas to set off occupations?

Which is correct?
Bookmarklets are just one of the Web-related interests of ____________ Steve Kangas.
a. the mathematician,
b. the mathematician
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When should you use commas with “such as” and “including”?

Which is correct?
We have received expressions of concern about wiretap Trojans from various _________ the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Privacy Coalition.
a. groups, including
b. groups including
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Does a question mark go inside or outside of quotation marks?

Which is correct?
After the presentation, several attendees asked “What are the drawbacks to _________
a. virtualization?”
b. virtualization”?

Answer: a

Explanation:
According to AP style, a question mark is inside quotation marks if that part is the question and outside the quotation marks if the whole sentence is a question. (The same rule applies to exclamation marks and dashes. Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks.)

Grammarbook.com has more information about quotation marks and punctuation.

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Colons vs. semicolons

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Which is correct?
The CEO cannot _____ he’s given so much slack that even his most dismal catastrophes are hailed as triumphs.
a. fail;
b. fail:

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Colons and semicolons

Which is correct? Every day, most people use one or more of these types of _______ estimation, educated guesses and common sense. a. heuristics: b. heuristics;

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Starting a sentence with “because” — comma required?

Which is correct? Because the power wiring system was designed for _____ its ability to carry higher frequencies is limited. a. AC, b. AC

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Colons and semicolons

Which is correct? Here’s one of our favorite technology ________ the parts of your computer that you can hit with a hammer are called hardware and the parts you can only curse at are called software. a. quotations; b. quotations:

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