Correct usage in this example

Question

On this resource from Bristol University are the answers not reversed? C AND D are correct for a semi colon not wrong: joining two independent clauses instead of a conjunction.

How should A) be punctuated too. Paris is a beautiful city with wide streets and sunshine (with or em dash maybe)

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_44.htm

GPY · Accepted Answer

panda blue 483On this resource from Bristol University are the answers not reversed? C AND D are correct for a semi colon not wrong: joining two independent clauses instead of a conjunction.

I assume from the next part that you are referring to question 2.

C and D are correct with a semicolon. If you tick C and D and then click "Check your answer", the site will tell you that everything is correct. If you click "Check your answer" without ticking any boxes then the site will tell you that C and D are wrong. They are "wrong" because they should have been ticked but weren't, not because they are wrong with a semicolon. I think the design of this is potentially a bit confusing.

panda blue 483How should A) be punctuated too. Paris is a beautiful city with wide streets and sunshine (with or em dash maybe)

The instructions at the top talk about "pairs of clauses" but some of the parts, such as "wide streets and sunshine" are not clauses, and some sentences seem to need additional words inserted, not just punctuation (unless we resort to dashes or ellipses or fragmentary sentences). This is also confusing. Here I would use a comma with "with":

Paris is a beautiful city, with wide streets and sunshine.

I find the sentence semantically odd too. Like anywhere else in the world, in Paris there is sunshine when the sun is shining.

Clive · Answer

In this exercise you will have to decide which pairs of clauses can be connected with a semi-colon.

2

Which can/should be connected with a semi-colon?

a)

Paris is a beautiful city ______ wide streets and sunshine. A semi-colon is not possible.

with is fine.

A dash is best avoided in formal writing.

b)Havana is a lovely city ______ rice pudding is one of my favourite foods. A semi-colon is possible but akes no sense,as these are unrelated sentences.c)I would love to go to France ______ Paris is a lovely city. A semi-colon is possible.d)I would love to go to Greece ______ I love ancient history. A semi-colon is possible.

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