Is the following sentence missing semicolons or commas? If so, where?: The house was clean the table set and the porch light on everything was ready for the guests' arrival.

1 Answer
lechugamaestro19
Apr 30, 2018

Yes.

Explanation:

The house was clean#color(red),# the table set#color(red),# and the porch light on#color(red);# everything was ready for the guests' arrival.

Commas: The first clause in the sentence is a list of things that make the house "ready for the guests' arrival." Since it is a list, each item must be separated with a comma (though some people argue that the last comma is unnecessary, it's not incorrect, and it can help to clarify the sentence, so I always keep it).

Semicolon: There are two independent clauses in the sentence (each half is a full sentence that can stand by itself with a subject (or subjects) and verb): the house was clean, the table set, and the porch light on and everything was ready for the guests' arrival. Therefore, in order to keep this sentence from being a run-on, we put a semicolon between the clauses.

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