Basic punctuation - how good are you really?

[jono035]

Capitalisation is the difference betwen "I helped my uncle Jack off a horse" and "I helped my uncle jack off a horse".

Commas could also be used to positive effect. "I helped my uncle jack off a horse" vs "I helped my uncle, Jack, off a horse".

If I were writing a sentence like that, I would want as many indications that I meant the latter as I could get.

[vifferman]

I've had a go. If this is what is being taught by "academics" as correct usage of punctuation they should be dragged off and shot. Excessive and unnecessary usage of commas, particularly of the "Oxford" comma is pedantically incorrect. Similarly for the shriek. The semi colon has become something of an anachronism too, unless used in lists.

I got 17 first time up and spent a considerable amount of time determining which ones I got "wrong". Fascination has subsequently turned to crankiness.

*SNORTL*
I had no problem with the commas, or semi-colons (they are my friends), but had to revisit the questions with the exclamation marks, after deducing that it was the only possible correct answer in a later question, which meant it was also the 'correct' option in an earlier one. The nett result was that it became for me not an exercise in picking the correct grammar, but in picking which answer the examiner thought was correct.

[Hitcher]

Commas could also be used to positive effect. "I helped my uncle jack off a horse" vs "I helped my uncle, Jack, off a horse".

Now there's the the thing: it only needs a capital J on Jack to make its meaning clear. The commas are redundant.

[Squiggles]

[Slyer]

Oh dear god no.

[diggyduo]

What was particularly irritating was the belief that one example of the four or so given was "correct". Indeed in several cases the "correct" answer was in fact the least incorrect.

Any sentence that contains more than two commas can invariably be rewritten to remove at least two of them.

Yes, dead right there.
Interestingly, I got 18 in a test where two of the questions were the same, but the suggested 'correct' answers were rearranged!
Very poor that there is no direct feedback on the areas for improvement, merely a generic topic.

[mstriumph]

............
My lecturer thinks that commas are going to die out soon (well in the not too distant future). Most of the time you don't really need to use them. ...............

ye gods!



(but good luck with the test, anyway!)

[mstriumph]

*SNORTL*
...................................... after deducing that it was the only possible correct answer in a later question, which meant it was also the 'correct' option in an earlier one. The nett result was that it became for me not an exercise in picking the correct grammar, but in picking which answer the examiner thought was correct.

me too! *jumps up and down with excitement*

[rwh]

So every command should have an exclamation mark? That's not what I was taught, I'm sure.

Richard

[PirateJafa]

Dude, that dog is RIPPED.

[Thani-B]

Out of my fellow students, around 120 of us doing this paper, 34 passed. 9 of those 34 were bonus passes which meant they got at least 18/20. Remember 16/20 was a pass.




I got a bonus pass!

[blackdog]

Out of my fellow students, around 120 of us doing this paper, 34 passed. 9 of those 34 were bonus passes which meant they got at least 18/20. Remember 16/20 was a pass.



I got a bonus pass!

good job!

ridiculous pass percentage though. lucky the tutor's not getting paid on commission i guess

[Hanne]

. The nett result was that it became for me not an exercise in picking the correct grammar, but in picking which answer the examiner thought was correct.

Those are the best sorts of exams, eh?
Sportsci 100G multichoice ftw!

[Hopeful Bastard]

Well done Thani!

Just be thankful i wasnt sitting your test paper for ya!

Sorry , you haven't correctly answered enough questions to pass this test.

You scored 9 out of 20.

You needed at least 16 correct answers.

You made mistakes in the following areas:
Apostrophes: 3
Commas: 5
Semi colons: 1
Dashes: 1

[kwaka_crasher]

WTF!

I got 19/20 but I made mistakes in no areas?

I even went back through every question changing the answer one by one and resubmitting but couldn't find the one I got wrong. But i did miss one question on the first submission so perhaps it's something to do with that.

I see the questions changed too from when you guys did it.