Practice Makes Perfect: Exploring Grammar - Muschla Gary Robert 2010

Leaky Faucet
Colons and hyphens
Punctuation and capitalization

Colons and hyphens have special uses. Use a colon for the following:

✵ To set off words in a list

Brianna wrote down supplies she needed for school: pencils, pens, paper, and notebooks.

✵ Between hours and minutes in time

10:30 A.M.

9:45 P.M.

✵ After the greeting of a business letter

Dear Ms. Hernandez:

Dear Mr. Smith:

Use a hyphen for the following:

✵ To form certain compound words

able-bodied

brother-in-law

self-made

stand-in

✵ To break words into syllables

far-ther

nar-row

out-side

riv-er

8.8 Leaky Faucet

A faucet in Jason’s house leaks at a rate of one drop of water each minute. This adds up to a lot of water. About how many gallons of water would Jason’s leaky faucet waste in one year?

To answer the question, read each sentence below. Decide if the colons and hyphens are used correctly. If a colon is missing or is used incorrectly, write the letter for colon in the space above the sentence number at the bottom of the page. If a hyphen is missing or is used incorrectly, write the letter for hyphen. If the sentence is correct, write the letter for no mistake. You will need to reverse and divide the letters into words.

1. At 9,30 A.M. on Saturday, Jason helped his father fix a leaky faucet.

U. Colon

E. Hyphen

A. No Mistake

2. Jason got the following tools for his father: a wrench, a screwdriver, and a flashlight.

N. Colon

T. Hyphen

E. No Mistake

3. First they turned the water-off under the sink.

A. Colon

I. Hyphen

O. No Mistake

4. Next: Jason’s father loosened the faucet.

H. Colon

R. Hyphen

T. No Mistake

5. Carefully his father took the faucet off: and he checked it.

R. Colon

A. Hyphen

S. No Mistake

6. It was an oldfashioned faucet and had to be replaced.

M. Colon

D. Hyphen

S. No Mistake

7. Jason’s father had a new faucet, and by 9:55 the job was done.

F. Colon

T. Hyphen

N. No Mistake