Correcting Punctuation Errors - GMAT Verbal

This sentence misuses a comma. The phrase "Because of farming and herding" is an introductory phrase, explaining information necessary to the context of the sentence, but outside of the main sentence, grammatically. These types of phrases must be followed by a comma in order to separate them from the rest of the sentence. A comma is not necessary, however, before the "and," because the phrase "farming and herding" is not a list (a list contains three or more items), and it is not combining independent clauses. The correct choice is, "Because of farming and herding, humans are able."

This sentence is missing a comma where needed. The phrase "Though acting may seem easy to most people" is an introductory phrase, explaining information necessary to the context of the sentence, but outside of the main sentence, grammatically. These types of phrases must be followed by a comma in order to separate them from the rest of the sentence. The clause "it takes much effort and practice" is fine and functions as an independent clause. No additional changes are necessary, so the correct choice is, "acting may seem easy to most people, it takes much effort and practice."

This sentence misuses a comma. The sentence is a simple sentence, so no punctuation of any sort is needed. The placement of the comma is strange because it is not joining clauses, being used in a list, or otherwise. In fact, the comma is in the middle of the same clause. The same issue lies with the usage of the other punctuation: there is only one clause in this sentence and any punctuation awkwardly splits it up. The correct choice is, "to learn about economics in order to gain a better understanding."

This sentence does not contain commas where necessary. The title, George Orwell's 1984 (1949), is an example of a parenthetical expression: a phrase that explains more about a particular word or phrase in the sentence, but is not introduced by a relative pronoun. These phrases must be introduced and completed with a comma in order to separate them from the main clause of the sentence. The correct choice is, "Kara's favorite novel, 1984, is a literary classic, according to most people."

This sentence misuses a comma. Since this sentence is a simple sentence, no punctuation is needed whatsoever. The correct choice is, "Atlas Shrugged is one of the largest novels ever written."

Atlas Shrugged was published by Ayn Rand in 1957.

This sentence does not contain commas where necessary. The phrase "which ususally occurred via email" is an example of a relative clause, which gives more information about its antecedent: conversations. Any such phrase that occurs in the middle of a sentence must be introduced and completed with a comma. The correct choice is, "In their conversations, which usually occurred via email, Monica and Jess."

The words "large" and "sculptured" are coordinate adjectives: adjectives that modify the same noun separately, but are not separated with a conjunction. Coordinate adjectives need to be separated with a comma. The correct answer choice is, "Dubai has a series of large, sculptured islands."

This sentence does not contain punctuation where it is necessary. The phrase "While cement and steel are already strong materials" is an example of an introductory phrase, explaining information necessary to the context of the sentence, but outside of the main sentence, grammatically. These types of phrases must be followed by a comma in order to separate them from the rest of the sentence. The correct answer choice is, "cement and steel are already strong materials, they are especially strong."

This sentence misuses a comma. The phrase "due to the industrial revolution and the increase of opportunities" is just that - one phrase. All of these words are part of one clause, so there is no reason for a comma before the word "and." Commas only appear before conjunctions when the conjunction is used to combine two independent clauses. The best choice is, "due to the industrial revolution and the increase of opportunities in cities."

This sentence misuses a comma. Commas only appear before conjunctions when the conjunction is used to combine two independent clauses. The words on both sides of "and," however, are part of the same clause. No additional punctuation is necessary. The correct choice is, "because of his low fees and amazing customer service."

This sentence misuses a comma. There is no need for a comma before the word "that" since it is not separating one clause from another, combining clauses with a conjunction, separating items in a list, or any other reason for which a comma should be used. The correct choice is to omit the comma as in the option: "Many individuals believe that driverless cars will fill our roads."

This sentence misuses a comma. The sentence combines two related independent clauses without the use of a coordinate conjunction; when this is the case, a semicolon should be placed between those clauses. A semicolon should come after the word "lifespan."

The phrase "for many computers" is an example of an introductory phrase, explaining information necessary to the context of the sentence, but outside of the main sentence, grammatically. These types of phrases must be followed by a comma in order to separate them from the rest of the sentence.

While one choice uses a period, which could be correct, the following word, "for," is not capitalized, so it cannot be correct. The correct choice is, "Computers have a short lifespan; for many computers,"

The phrase "which were essential for the company's records" is an example of a relative clause, which gives more information about its antecedent: the documents. Any such phrase that occurs in the middle of a sentence must be introduced and completed with a comma. You would not use hyphens to separate these clauses; usually, hyphens are more common between clauses when adding an interjection. The correct answer choice, which corrects the error without changing the meaning of the sentence, is "the documents, which were essential for the company's records, meant Fatima would."

The rules of apostrophes say that you must ues an apostrophe after the "s" of a plural noun that ends in "s" but before the "s" if the noun is pluarl and irregular (e.g., teeth). Mr. Jones could be Mr. Jones' or Mr. Jones's, depending on convention.

As it is written, the sentence portrays the president as working with the "leader's of his own party," which has an inappropriate use of the possesive form. The sentence must be corrected to make the word a simple plural form by taking out the apostrophe. Therefore, the correct answer choice is "with his political enemies almost as much as leaders of his own party."

In this sentence, "three weeks" is actually a possessive, as the sentence could be rearranged as "\[the\] worth of three weeks" and mean the same thing. Therefore, "weeks" should be changed into the possessive form "weeks'." As the only answer choice that appropriately makes this change, "roughly three weeks' worth of work" is the correct answer choice.

The correct possessive form of men (a plural word) is "men's." There should be no apostrophe used in the word "daughters," as they do not possess anything in this sentence.

The example sentence contains two apostrophe errors. First, "it's" in this case is a contraction of "it is." "Its" (with no apostrophe) is used to signal the possessive (e.g. "the machine performed its function"). The most correct, and appropriately formal, version of this sentence would use "it is."

The travelers' "plans" are in this case simply plural, so no apostrophe is needed. "Plan's" would only be used to signal that something belonged to the plans.

The word "who's" is a contraction of "who is," not the possessive form of "who," as it is used in this sentence. The correct possessive form of "who" is "whose." As the only choice to use the appropriate word, "officials were still unsure who's bag was left unattended" is the correct answer.

This sentence contains an apostrophe error: the sentence uses the word "it's" in the second clause in order to show possession. Unlike other words; however, "its (without an apostrophe)" is the correct possessive form of "it". "It's" is a contraction for "it is." The correct answer choice is "The new campus was finally built; its facilities were considered to be the best.