ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Test Prep Videos 1540 videos

CAHSEE 1.1 Passage Drill
1135 Views

CAHSEE 1.1 English Language Arts Passage Drill. Which line is an example of a metaphor?

CAHSEE 1.3 Passage Drill
337 Views

CAHSEE 1.3 Passage Drill. Which of the following is the best way to express the meaning of the word alumni in this sentence?

CAHSEE 1.2 Passage Drill
246 Views

CAHSEE 1.2 Passage Drill. Which of these sentences from the story best illustrates the sensitive side of the narrator's nature?

See All

ACT English 3.2 Punctuation 973 Views


Share It!


Description:

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 2. How should we properly hyphenate the words in this sentence?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Chocolate-Covered Candies. Because sometimes

00:08

you just need your sugar to be dipped in sugar.

00:11

How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

00:15

The chocolate-covered candies were hard-centered.

00:26

Hyphens are used for more than just to communicate how important Hollywood bigwigs are.

00:30

They are also used to combine compound modifiers, or words that modify the interpretation of

00:35

a sentence's subject...as long as they come before that subject.

00:39

Let's check out the use of hyphens in the original sentence.

00:43

Chocolate-covered seems legit, but what about hard-centered?

00:46

This one comes after the subject, so it doesn't work. Again - hyphens can only be used to

00:52

combine modifiers that come before the subject. In D, the hyphen doesn't come between two

00:57

compound modifiers, it comes between one of the compound modifiers and the subject.

01:01

So, this one is outta there. C has the same problem as the original

01:05

sentence. The hyphen can only be used in front of the noun to combine modifiers, but hard-centered

01:10

is after the subject. And we're left with B. This uses a hyphen

01:15

only between the words before the subject.

01:17

These things sound delicious, but, of course, they'll still need to be deep-fried.

Related Videos

ACT English 2.2 Punctuation
2070 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 2. Where should the semi-colon be placed?

ACT English 3.1 Punctuation
1066 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 1. How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

ACT English 3.4 Punctuation
522 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 4. Which choice best formats this list of items?

ACT English 2.1 Punctuation
519 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 1. Which choice of punctuation best completes the sentence?

ACT English 2.4 Punctuation
467 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 4. Which punctuation fits best in this sentence?