Does the following sentence have any missing commas or semicolons? If so, where?: She said she really liked the book she particularly liked the final three chapters.

1 Answer
Mar 4, 2018

The sentence must have a semicolon after "book."

She  said  she  really  liked  the  book; she partic"u"larly liked  the color(white)() "final" color(white)() three  chapters.

Explanation:

This is really two independent clauses -- two separate sentences.

1) She said she really liked the book.
2) She particularly liked the final three chapters.

color(white)(.mmmmmmm)――――――――――

• When two independent clauses have no punctuation between them (the way they appear in the question), they make a "run-on sentence" error.

She  said  she  really  liked  the  book  she partic"u"larly liked   the color(white)() "final" color(white)() three  chapters. larr run-on sentence

color(white)(.mmmmmmm)――――――――――

• When two independent clauses are joined with just a comma, they make a "comma splice" error.

She said she really liked the  book, she partic"u"larly liked  the color(white)() "final" color(white)() three  chapters. larr comma splice

color(white)(.mmmmmmm)――――――――――

There are a few choices for correcting this error:

You can use a semicolon

1) If you must use a semicolon as implied in the question, then locate it after the word "book" to correct the punctuation.

A semicolon (without a coordinating conjunction) can be used to link two independent clauses

• when they are both closely related to the same idea
• when the "weight" or importance are the same for both.

https://www.proofreadnow.com/blog/bid/71799/The-Semicolon-and-Independent-Clauses

So the semicolon makes this correct:

She  said  she  really  liked  the  book; she partic"u"larly liked  the   color(white)() "final" color(white)() three  chapters.

color(white)(.mmmmmmm)――――――――――

You can use other punctuation

1) You can add a comma and a coordinating conjunction

She said she really liked the book, but  she partic"u"larly liked the  "final" color(white)() three chapters.

color(white)(.mmmmmmm)――――――――――

2) You can separate the independent clauses into two sentences by using a period between them

She  said  she  really  liked  the  book. She partic"u"larly liked  the "final" color(white)() three  chapters.

color(white)(.mmmmmmm)――――――――――

3) You can use a dash between the independent clauses

She said she really liked the book  ―  she partic"u"larly liked the "final" color(white)() three chapters.