How Good Is Your Punctuation?

Correct answer: She asked me to meet her at 10:00 a.m.

Explanation: If a sentence ends with an abbreviation, the period used for the abbreviation serves as the terminal punctuation.   

3. She worked as an executive in the automotive industry (at Ford) and in the tech sector. (at Yahoo!)

Correct answer: She worked as an executive in the automotive industry (at Ford) and in the tech sector (at Yahoo!).

Explanation: Place the period outside the closing parenthesis when the parenthetical text is part of the sentence.

4. The question is, whether to drop coverage entirely or incur potential new costs.

Correct answer: The question is whether to drop coverage entirely or incur potential new costs.

Explanation: The comma after “is” is incorrect.

5. After an organization has selected and designed it’s social learning technology solutions, L&D must address key roadblocks during their implementation.

Correct answer: After an organization has selected and designed its social learning technology solutions, L&D must address key roadblocks during their implementation.

Explanation: Remove the apostrophe as “It's” is a contraction for “it is” while “its” is the possessive form of “it.”  

6. Last year, I was on a business trip to Athens, Greece; Madrid, Spain; and Beijing, China.

7. Executives face several key challenges as they seek to improve decision making quality. 

Correct answer: Executives face several key challenges as they seek to improve decision-making quality.

Explanation: Use hyphens between words that act collectively used as an adjective to modify a noun they precede. Here “decision” and “making” act together to describe the noun “quality.”  

8. “The best investments are commodities and emerging-market stocks”.

Correct answer: “The best investments are commodities and emerging-market stocks.”

Explanation: Put punctuation marks inside quotation marks, even if the punctuation is not part of the original quotation.

9. On 1 August Uber announced that it is selling its Chinese brand and operations for $1 billion.

Correct answer: On 1 August, Uber announced that it is selling its Chinese brand and operations for $1 billion.

Explanation: Use a comma to separate the introductory clause “On 1 August” from the main clause.

10. Over the past 20 years, only 60 companies across the Fortune 1000 and S&P Euro 350 had consistent year over year revenue and margin improvement.

Correct answer: Over the past 20 years, only 60 companies across the Fortune 1000 and S&P Euro 350 had consistent year-over-year revenue and margin improvement.

Explanation: Use hyphens between words that act collectively as an adjective to modify a noun they precede.

11. As part of its talent development strategy for Finance, Company A designed a competency model for staff, dividing value creation skills into three discrete categories; business breadth, leadership impact, and technical breadth.

Correct answer: As part of its talent development strategy for Finance, Company A designed a competency model for staff, dividing value creation skills into three discrete categories: business breadth, leadership impact, and technical breadth.

Explanation: Use a colon, not a semicolon, to introduce a list.

12. Companies recognize that integrating risk management principles into existing processes is critical: therefore, audit executives are searching for ways to ensure risk management integration.

Correct answer: Companies recognize that integrating risk management principles into existing processes is critical; therefore, audit executives are searching for ways to ensure risk management integration. 

Explanation: Use a semicolon, not a colon, to join two closely related independent sentences.

13. Profits increased substantially and the organization expanded its operations.

Correct answer: Profits increased substantially, and the organization expanded its operations.

Explanation: Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, or, but) between two independent clauses.

14. Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated? 

A. The approach works because it capitalizes on the human craving for community, feedback, achievement and reward.

B. The approach works because it capitalizes on the human craving for community, feedback, achievement, and reward.

Explanation:  Use a serial comma after the second-to-last element in a list.

15. Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated? 

A. Companies face aggressive top- and bottom-line goals that often drive cost reduction and productivity efforts.

B. Companies face aggressive top and bottom-line goals that often drive cost reduction and productivity efforts.

Explanation: If two words have a common second element, use a hyphen with both the first and the second prefix (e.g., pre- and post-training content).

16. Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated? 

A. When a customer experiences an issue more than once his or her loyalty reduces significantly.

B. When a customer experiences an issue more than once, his or her loyalty reduces significantly.

Explanation: Use a comma to separate the introductory clause from the main clause.

17. Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated? 

A. Organizations are looking for a 27% increase in employee performance just to meet their goals; consequently, they are investing billions annually in training.

B. Organizations are looking for a 27% increase in employee performance just to meet their goals consequently they are investing billions annually in training.

Explanation: Use a semicolon to join two independent sentences.

18. Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated? 

A. The Attorney General said, “Businesses have a duty to notify consumers in the event of a breach to prevent misuse of data.”

B. The Attorney General said “Businesses have a duty to notify consumers in the event of a breach to prevent misuse of data.”

Explanation: Use a comma to separate a direct quotation from its introduction.

19. Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated? 

A. The CFO has taken an advisor’s role in the organization’s strategy, however, this advisory role needs to be more defined to avoid uncertainty.

B. The CFO has taken an advisor’s role in the organization’s strategy; however, this advisory role needs to be more defined to avoid uncertainty.

Explanation: Use a semicolon before “however” when it joins two independent clauses that are in contrast or opposition to one another.

20. Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated? 

A. The company cut its prices in half but did not realize a measurable increase in its overhead costs.

B. The company cut its prices in half, but did not realize a measurable increase in its overhead costs.

Explanation: Do not use a comma before coordinate conjunctions (e.g., but, and, yet) when they join clauses that share the same subject.