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Punctuation Practice (PSAT: Boundaries)

Total questions: 20

Worksheet time: 19mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

I can't believe you did that! exclaimed Sarah.

a)

quotation marks

b)

apostrophe

c)

period

d)

ellipsis

2.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

His favorite book To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic.

a)

quotation marks

b)

commas

c)

period

d)

question mark

3.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

The recipe called for three ingredients flour, sugar, and eggs.

a)

comma

b)

hyphen

c)

period

d)

colon

4.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

She waited patiently however, he never showed up.

a)

semicolon

b)

hyphen

c)

apostrophe

d)

colon

5.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

The suspense built up and then everything went silent.

a)

semicolon

b)

hyphen

c)

exclamation mark

d)

ellipsis

6.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

The document was filled with important information though some details were redacted.

a)

parentheses

b)

period

c)

question mark

d)

colon

7.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

John found a wrinkled old tattered map in the attic.

a)

parentheses

b)

comma

c)

quotation mark

d)

semicolon

8.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

Have you ever visited Paris, the city of love

a)

parentheses

b)

question mark

c)

quotation marks

d)

period

9.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

The well organized team efficiently completed the project ahead of schedule.

a)

hyphen

b)

question mark

c)

dash

d)

quotation marks

10.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

Please read pages 10 20 for the assignment details.

a)

hyphen

b)

exclamation mark

c)

dash

d)

parentheses

11.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

The teacher quoted Winston Churchill when she said that success is not final, failure is not fatal.

a)

semicolon

b)

comma

c)

dash

d)

quotation marks

12.

Identify the missing punctuation mark:

The cats playful antics brightened the entire room.

a)

semicolon

b)

exclamation mark

c)

apostrophe

d)

ellipsis

13.

While one requires oxygen and one does ______ and anaerobic respiration are both forms of cellular respiration—that is, they are processes by which cells break down glucose to use as energy.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

a)

not. Aerobic

b)

not; aerobic

c)

not aerobic

d)

not, aerobic

14.

When particles are suspended in liquid (like pollen in a water glass), they will zigzag randomly through the liquid and collide with one another in perpetuity. This type of random, continuous ______ is known as Brownian motion, can be observed throughout the natural world.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

a)

movement: which

b)

movement which

c)

movement, which

d)

movement. Which

15.

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a leader of Umuofia (a fictional Nigerian clan) and takes pride in his culture’s traditions. However, when the arrival of European missionaries brings changes to Umuofia, the novel asks a central question: How ______

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

a)

will Umuofia’s traditions be affected?

b)

Umuofia’s traditions will be affected?

c)

Umuofia’s traditions will be affected.

d)

will Umuofia’s traditions be affected.

16.

Emperor Ashoka ruled the Maurya Empire in South Asia from roughly 270 to 232 BCE. He is known for enforcing a moral code called the Law of Piety, which established the sanctity of animal ______ the just treatment of the elderly, and the abolition of the slave trade.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

a)

life;

b)

life:

c)

life

d)


life,

17.

Santa Clara Pueblo artist Roxanne Swentzell’s sculpture Mud Woman Rolls On consists of five human figures made of clay and plant fiber and arranged in descending size; each figure holds the smaller one in front of it. The arrangement of the figures, according to ______ represents her idea that “we all come from the Earth, generation after generation.”

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

a)

Swentzell,

b)

Swentzell:

c)

Swentzell

d)

Swentzell—

18.

How do scientists determine what foods were eaten by extinct hominins such as Neanderthals? In the past, researchers were limited to studying the marks found on the fossilized teeth of skeletons, but in 2017 a team led by Laura Weyrich of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA tried something ______ the DNA found in Neanderthals’ fossilized dental plaque.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

a)

new. Sequencing

b)

new: sequencing

c)

new; sequencing

d)

new, sequencing:

19.

Humans were long thought to have begun occupying the Peruvian settlement of Machu Picchu between 1440 and 1450 CE. However, a team led by anthropologist Dr. Richard Burger used accelerator mass spectrometry to uncover evidence that it was occupied ______ 1420 CE, according to Burger, humans were likely inhabiting the area.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

a)

earlier, which in

b)

earlier, in

c)

earlier. In

d)

earlier in

20.

A subseasonal weather forecast attempts to predict weather conditions three to four weeks in ______ its predictions are therefore more short-term than those of the seasonal forecast, which attempts to predict the weather more than a month in advance.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

a)

advance and

b)

advance;

c)

advance,

d)

advance