WAIT, THE SAT WANTS ME TO KNOW HOW TO USE A
SEMICOLON?
Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, “Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons...All
they do is show you’ve been to college.” Unfortunately, this does not apply to the SAT. For the SAT,
you’ll need to know how to use the semicolon and a few other types of weird punctuation. In this chapter,
we’re going to talk about the variety of punctuation you need to know how to use on the SAT. Learn these
few simple rules, and you’ll be all set on the punctuation questions.
First and foremost, stick to the strategy!
Start by asking, “What’s changing in the answer choices?”If you see punctuation marks—commas, periods, apostrophes, semicolons, colons—changing, then the
question is testing punctuation. Then, as you work the problem, make sure to ask the big question:
Does this punctuation need to be here?The particular punctuation mark you are using—no matter what it is—must have a specific role within the
sentence. You wouldn’t use a question mark without a question, would you? Nope! Well, all punctuation
works that way, and in what follows, we’ll give you seven basic instances in which you would use some
type of punctuation. Otherwise, let the words do their thing unobstructed!
STOP, GO, AND THE VERTICAL LINE TEST
Let’s get the weird ones out of the way first. Everyone knows that a period ends a sentence, but once
things get more complicated, even a particularly nerdy grammarian can get lost. Because of this confusion,
we’ve come up with a basic chart that summarizes the different times you might use what the SAT calls
“end-of-sentence” and “middle-of-sentence” punctuation.
When you are linking ideas, you must use one of the following:
STOP
- Period
- Semicolon
- Comma + FANBOYS
- Question mark
- Exclamation Mark