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COLON I love cruciferous vegetables : they are a good source of indole-3-carbinol.
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There’s an important distinction to be made here. Though they look alike and sound alike, the colon and semicolon are not interchangeable. The semicolon has more in common with the period than it does with the colon. The semicolon literally means “half-colon.” Now it doesn't literally perform half of the functions of a colon, but it is less versatile. The colon, on the other hand, is very versatile in its usage, and it can be used to join independent clauses (among other uses that will be discussed later).
DASH I love cruciferous vegetables — they are a good source of indole-3-carbinol.
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Like the colon, the dash is versatile in its usage. In fact, in many ways, the dash is very similar to the colon. Both can be used to join independent clauses.
“So, what’s the difference?”
While the colon and dash are not entirely interchangeable, for the SAT, you can think of them as basically interchangeable. Why a writer chooses one over the other is largely an issue of tone or style, neither of which the SAT tests.
To some grammarians, a dash is less formal but more expressive than a colon.
Bro, you did it—you scored 1600 on the SAT! ✓ Fellow, you have achieved something most laudable: you scored 1600 on the SAT. ✓
COMMA + CONJUNCTION I love cruciferous vegetables , and they are a good source of indole-3-carbinol. Ok, so you just love using commas—you just love pausing every chance you get. You can use a comma between sentences 99 if you add a coordinating conjunction, one of the FANBOYS, after the comma.
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F or 100 , A nd, N or, B ut, O r, Y et, S o
Conjunction : A word that joins like grammatical structures
bread and butter The conjunction and is joining two nouns. so close yet so far The conjunction yet is joining two adverb phrases. take it or leave it The conjunction or is joining two verb phrases.
♫ Conjunction Junction ♫
“Conjunction junction, what’s your function? “Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.”
99 Specifically, compound sentences 100 For is more commonly used as preposition than as a conjunction. When used as a conjunction, for is similar in meaning to because or since . “I diligently prepared for the SAT, for I was determined to improve!”
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