Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
A. Fish spend their entire lives in water; there are millions of varieties of them.
B. Fish spend their entire lives in water, there are millions of varieties of them.
C. Fish spend their entire lives in water, the study of fish is called "ichthyology".
D. Fish spend their entire lives in water; the study of fish is called "ichthyology".
I think its D because its two closely related topics so use a semi colon but again NOT sure at all please help and a comma wouldn't make sense to use
if still not sure, read up on comma splices ...
C and D are incorrect because of the placement of the period at the end. It should be before the ending quotation marks.
So … A or B? What do you think?
You're correct! Sentence D, "Fish spend their entire lives in water; the study of fish is called 'ichthyology'," is punctuated correctly. The semi-colon is used to separate two closely related independent clauses in a sentence. In this case, the two clauses "Fish spend their entire lives in water" and "the study of fish is called 'ichthyology'" are closely related and can be connected using a semi-colon. Well done!
You are correct! The correct sentence is D: "Fish spend their entire lives in water; the study of fish is called 'ichthyology'."
In this case, a semicolon is the appropriate punctuation mark because the two clauses (Fish spend their entire lives in water and the study of fish is called "ichthyology") are closely related. The semicolon helps to emphasize the relationship between the two ideas while still keeping them separate.
Using a comma (like in options B and C) would create a comma splice, which is an error. A comma is not strong enough to separate two complete thoughts on its own. You would need to use a coordinating conjunction (such as "and" or "but") or a semicolon to join the clauses correctly.
So, your reasoning is correct, and the correct choice is D.