<p>I am redoing my october test and came across these writing questions that tripped me up.</p>
<p>Small fish living among coral reefs face constant (danger, swimming) in open water makes them prey to larger fish, but hiding in crevices exposes them to eel attacks.</p>
<p>A)danger, swimming
B) danger, their swimming
C) danger; if they swim
D)danger: swimming
E) danger: when it swims </p>
<p>The habitat (in which) the sequoia trees grow, (extends) from southern Oregon to northern California, is (kept) damp year-round by (heavy) seasonal rains, cool coastal air, and fog.</p>
<p>Could someone please explain these to me, Thanks :)</p>
<p>Small fish living among coral reefs face constant (danger, swimming) in open water makes them prey to larger fish, but hiding in crevices exposes them to eel attacks.</p>
<p>A)danger, swimming (comma splice)
B) danger, their swimming (comma splice)
C) danger; if they swim (not parallel) D)danger: swimming (correct)
E) danger: when it swims (not parallel and “it” is used incorrectly)</p>
<p>The habitat (in which) the sequoia trees grow, <a href=“extends”>B</a>** from southern Oregon to northern California, is (kept) damp year-round by (heavy) seasonal rains, cool coastal air, and fog.</p>
<p>“Extends” should be “extending” because it is describing the habitat in which sequoia trees grow.</p>
<p>(A) is incorrect because a comma cannot divide two independent clauses. A semicolon is the typical grammatical replacement.</p>
<p>(B) makes the same error as (A). It simply has a negligible possessive pronoun attached to the gerund.</p>
<p>(C) is incorrect because the independent clause “if they swim in open water makes them pray to larger fish” does not make sense.</p>
<p>(D) is correct because the colon acts as a semicolon. It allows you to basically start a new sentence after it. Its purpose is to allow one to clarify and exemplify the initial portion of the sentence. It basically explains why small fish face danger.</p>
<p>(E) makes the same mistake as (C).</p>
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</p>
<p>“Extends” should be “extending,” or “which extends.” “The habitat in which the sequoia trees grow…is kept damp…” is the main part of the sentence. “extending from southern Oregon to northern California” is a participial phrase. A participle (e.g., “extending”) ends in -ing and modifies the subject or object of the sentence without disrupting the structure of the independent clause “the habitat…is kept damp…” It is effectively an adjective that acts as a parenthetical–that is, if you omit it the sentence would still make sense.</p>
<p>“Extends” is wrong because that is an active verb, which cannot coexist with “is” in the phrase “is kept damp.”</p>
<p>No, colons don’t just introduce lists. They also act like semicolons. But a semicolon is more neutral. A colon is used in clarifying or explaining something. For example, you can give an example: this is an example. You can also use it to be more specific: it acts as a gate, inviting you to go on about the same topic or to represent something in a different manner.</p>
<p>There are a bunch of other uses and technicalities of colon usage. See here:</p>
<p>Try not to focus on memorizing all the different usages of the colon. It is much more effective to try to explain to yourself when to use it and when not to use it. There is logic behind a lot of it.</p>