Commas, Semicolons, and Colons

After leaving the Capitol _______ Senator Dubitsky returned to her office to work on a speech, answer some letters, and meet with her staff.

• comma
• semicolon
• colon
• no punctuation

After leaving,the people on the new committee went down to the coffee shop. They ordered ___ coffee, apple cider, and bottled water.

• comma
• semicolon
• colon
• no punctuation

Maria usually prefers to work out in the morning ___________  today she intends to go to the gym after her last appointment.

• comma
• semicolon
• colon
• no punctuation

I chose to start a diet after Thanksgiving ________ because holiday food is just too good!

• comma
• semicolon
• colon
• no punctuation

Tomorrow, the supervisor will come to our shift meeting.  He needs to see the following ___ Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto.

• comma
• semicolon
• colon
• no punctuation

The dull, droning speech of the college president put us to sleep _________ the crash of her water glass on the floor woke us up.

• comma
• semicolon
• colon
• no punctuation

Fitzgerald writes _____ "I wanted to get out and walk eastward toward the Park through the soft twilight, but each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument..." (35).

• comma
• semicolon
• colon
• no punctuation

Standing on the corner of Main Street ________  the Santa Claus rang his bell and collected money for the needy.

• comma
• semicolon
• colon
• no punctuation

What is the reason for the following comma?
She pointed suddenly at me, and everyone looked at me accusingly.

• separates two independent clauses when the second one begins with a coordinating conjunction
• separates a dependent from an independent clause
• separates items in a list
• that comma is NOT needed

What is the reason for the following comma?  The two tall basketball players left the library, walked to their car, and raced off down the street.

• separates two independent clauses when the second one begins with a coordinating conjunction
• separates a dependent clause from an independent clause
• seperates items in a list
• that comma is NOT needed