Are these correctly punctuated?
He admitted that he drank 10 beers a day.
There is only one alternative to growing old; Dying young.
Surgery will take place in 6 weeks, however, if his symptoms worsen, we will perform it sooner.
Her tumor had metastasized rapidly; therefore, she was given only a short time to live.
The heart is slightly enlarged - his breathing is much worse.
He came in complaining of the following: Enuresis, borborygmus, and hematemesis.
1st = fine
2nd - needs work; read up on semicolons and capitalization and let us know what you decide to change.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/semicolon.htm
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/capitals.htm
3rd - needs work; read up on semicolons and let us know what you think needs to change here.
4th = fine
5th - this is a compound sentence; punctuation needs work; see #2 here: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm
6th = fine
Yes, these sentences are correctly punctuated. Here's an explanation of the punctuation used in each sentence:
1. He admitted that he drank 10 beers a day.
- This sentence is a simple statement and it is correctly punctuated with a period at the end.
2. There is only one alternative to growing old; Dying young.
- This sentence is structured as a statement, followed by a semicolon, and then a statement in title case without a capital letter. The semicolon is used to separate two closely related independent clauses. However, it would be more conventional to capitalize the "D" in "Dying."
3. Surgery will take place in 6 weeks, however, if his symptoms worsen, we will perform it sooner.
- This sentence consists of two independent clauses connected by a conjunction. The word "however" is used as a conjunctive adverb to express contrast. It is placed after a comma to separate the two clauses.
4. Her tumor had metastasized rapidly; therefore, she was given only a short time to live.
- This sentence also consists of two independent clauses connected by a conjunction. The word "therefore" is used as a conjunctive adverb to show cause and effect. It is placed after a semicolon to separate the clauses.
5. The heart is slightly enlarged - his breathing is much worse.
- This sentence is structured as two related statements, separated by a dash. The dash acts as a punctuation mark to indicate a more abrupt or dramatic pause than a comma would.
6. He came in complaining of the following: Enuresis, borborygmus, and hematemesis.
- This sentence is correctly punctuated with a colon before introducing a list of items. The colon is used to indicate that what follows is a list or explanation.