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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 8 of 13

Punctuation Power

Colons, however and ellipses

What your child practices

Using a colon before a quotation, a semicolon with words like however and therefore, and ellipses or dashes to show a pause, an omission or a break.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 7.2.1.1 · colons, semicolons, ellipses and other punctuation

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Use a semicolon before however or therefore when it joins two sentences, and a comma after: “It was icy; therefore, we walked.”
  2. Use commas around however when it interrupts one sentence.
  3. Dashes show an interruption or break. An ellipsis (…) shows a pause or words left out. A colon can introduce a quotation.

Example: “The path was icy ___ therefore ___ we walked slowly.” What goes in the blanks? “Therefore” joins two complete sentences. Put a semicolon before it and a comma after. Answer: ; and ,

Punctuation Power in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 8 of 13 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Poetry Lab and before Whose Story?.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which sentence joins two independent clauses correctly?

    • The bus was late; because we missed the start.
    • The bus was late; we missed the start.
    • The bus was late; and missed the start.

  2. Question 2

    Which word is a conjunctive adverb?

    • since
    • consequently
    • or

  3. Question 3

    What does the ellipsis show? “Well … maybe,” said Jay.

    • a list
    • a hesitation
    • a title

  4. Question 4

    Which sentence uses commas around a conjunctive adverb correctly?

    • Our, team however won the game.
    • Our team however, won the game.
    • Our team, however, won the game.

  5. Question 5

    Which word is a conjunctive adverb?

    • and
    • however
    • because

  6. Question 6

    Which is a conjunctive adverb?

    • meanwhile
    • but
    • although

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