Which list of places requires semicolons instead of commas?
A. North Dakota, South Dakota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
B. Sacramento, California, Denver, Colorado, Phoenix, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
C. Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia.
D. Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia
B. Sacramento, California, Denver, Colorado, Phoenix, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Which sentence requires semicolons instead of commas?
A. This summer, we are going on a road trip to the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Maryland, and Rehoboth Beach.
B. This summer, we are going on a road trip to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
C. On our summer road trip, we will travel by car, train, and bus to three different states.
D. On our summer road trip,we will travel to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.
A. This summer, we are going on a road trip to the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Maryland, and Rehoboth Beach.
The correct answer is A. North Dakota, South Dakota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
In this list, semicolons should be used instead of commas because each item is already a combination of two states. The semicolon helps to separate each combination and make the list easier to read.
The list that requires semicolons instead of commas is option C: Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia.
To determine whether semicolons should be used instead of commas in a list of places, you need to consider the following guideline: when listing items that contain multiple words separated by commas, you use semicolons to separate the items instead of commas.
Let's break down each option to understand why option C requires semicolons:
A. North Dakota, South Dakota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
In this example, each place is a single word so commas are sufficient to separate the items.
B. Sacramento, California, Denver, Colorado, Phoenix, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In this example, each place contains multiple words separated by commas, but since there is no ambiguity, commas are still sufficient to separate the items.
C. Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia.
In this example, each place contains multiple words separated by commas, and because there is a potential for confusion between the countries and their capital cities, semicolons should be used to separate the items.
D. Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
In this example, each place is a single word so commas are sufficient to separate the items.
Therefore, the correct answer is option C, which requires semicolons instead of commas.