<p>Can you guys help me with these HARD English questions?
1.
This group, known as the Navajo code talkers, took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945, (TRANSMITTING INFORMATION, ON) tactics, troop movements, orders, and other vital communications over telephones and radios. </p>
<p>A. NO CHANGE
B. transmitting information on:
C. transmitting information on
D. transmitting: information on </p>
<p>The answer is C, but isn't B correct because a colon is used to introduce lists of information? </p>
<p>2.
All along, she was telling storieseverything from social
satire to her retelling of Cinderella as Cindy (ELLIE, A) poor African American girl whose rags are transformed into magnificent African-style gowns.</p>
<p>A. NO CHANGE
B. Ellie. A
C. Ellie; a
D. Ellie, she was a</p>
<p>The answer is A, but why can't C work? </p>
<p>3.
A musician balancing a cello case, two Buddhist monks in saffron robes, and a group of stockbrokers in crisp,
(CHARCOAL GRAY SUITS) get on at Wall Street. </p>
<p>F. NO CHANGE
G. charcoal gray suits,
H. charcoal, gray suits
J. charcoal gray, suits
The answer is F, why doesn't H work?</p>
<p>Hey, I got these all right, but I’m a grammar nerd. That’s eight years of Catholic school grammar for you (honestly i don’t think that the grammar is worth the loss in individuality ;-P).</p>
<p>Anyway,
a colon can be used to introduce a lits, but it barely ever is. It is really only used when there is an abrupt break. I dont know how to explain it any better. ANyone else?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The only answer that works is NO CHANGE. A semicolon can only be used to set off two independent clauses. There is no verb in the second part.</p></li>
<li><p>Choice H doesn’t work because charcoal is modifying gray. If it were to say crisp, oversized, brown suits, then it could probably use the comma where I put it. However, charcoal gray here is acting as one adjective (really an adverb and an adjective) so they should not be separated by a comma.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>A colon can only be used when the phrase the precedes the colon is independent (I.e. the phrase can end with a period and make sense, grammatically.) In this case, the preceding phrase is not independent as it ends with a preposition, “on”, and we must explain what they transmitting info on.</p></li>
<li><p>The second part after the semi-colon is not a complete independent sentence</p></li>
<li><p>See above</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>A colon can be used but adds unnecessary punctuation to the sentence. On the ACT, if two answers look equally good, the one with less punctuation is most often the correct answer. Kobe0129’s explanation is better on this one.</p></li>
<li><p>The second part of the sentence is not an independent clause, so it can’t be separated by a semicolon.</p></li>
<li><p>Charcoal gray is one color, thus it can’t be separated by a comma.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hi. Im new to posting here and even though I might not be as experienced as some others here, this might help you a little seeing as I remember doing these questions in the past. Feel free to correct me if I may have said something wrong.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>B is not correct because you only use a colon with a list when the first side is a independent clause or complete idea.
“This group, known as the Navajo code talkers, took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945,” this first part of the sentence is a independent clause and since there is a comma after it then the next part of the sentence should be a dependent clause or incomplete idea. C “transmitting information on tactics, troop movements, orders, and other vital communications over telephones and radios.” fits the sentence perfectly where when you use a colon the second half of the sentence (after 1945,) was not a complete idea before using colon. </p></li>
<li><p>for this one “a poor African American girl whose rags are transformed into magnificent African-style gowns.” is extra details to describe Ellie. You usually set of appositives with a comma.
C. is wrong because that is like putting a period between and starting a new sentence. Those extra details need to be in the same sentence and im not even sure that it can stand alone as a sentence.</p></li>
<li><p>I got this one wrong the first time too, but the way I see it now is that Charcoal cannot be broken up from gray because the suit is not gray, it is charcoal gray. It is like charcoal is describing how gray it is. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The verb “are transformed” refer to the clothes (there is actually a dependent clause starting with whose. “Girl” is not a subject; rather, it is an appositive (basically a noun that further describes a noun) in this sentence. It is part of the first clause clause. Good luck on your ACTs. I did well on the SATs but I’m taking these, too.</p>
1.) The preposition “on” introduces the list in this example. The colon is not used because in this case, a colon would only be used if it was between two independent clauses, i.e. "This group, known as the Navajo code talkers, took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945, transmitting information over telephones and radios: tactics, troop movements, and orders were all relayed.
2.) Using a semicolon would result in the fragment “A poor African American girl whose rags are transformed into magnificent African-style gowns.” The comma is the correct way to introduce the dependent clause.
3.) “Crisp” is not modifying “charcoal,” “charcoal” is modifying “gray”. That’s pretty simple compared to the can of worms of why the comma is there in the first place, though…