Basic Intermediate Advanced

Punctuation Quiz (Intermediate)

Tests intermediate material covered on EnglishClub's Punctuation pages. You can do this quiz online or print it on paper.

1. Which may be put before a list, a quotation, direct speech or an explanation to introduce it?

a hyphen
a colon
a semicolon
a) a hyphen b) a colon c) a semicolon

2. Which can be used instead of a full stop (or period) to separate two closely-connected sentences?

a semicolon
a comma
a colon
a) a semicolon b) a comma c) a colon

3. "I wonder where John is. Do you know." This needs a question mark after

the first sentence
the second sentence
both sentences
a) the first sentence b) the second sentence c) both sentences

4. An exclamation mark is usually used after an exclamation or

a description
a proposition
an interjection
a) a description b) a proposition c) an interjection

5. What are exclamation marks called in American English?

exclamation periods
exclamation points
exclamation stops
a) exclamation periods b) exclamation points c) exclamation stops

6. "Dan loves cooking his pets and his friends." The writer meant to list three things Dan loves, but he forgot to put

a colon after loves
a comma after cooking
a dash after pets
a) a colon after loves b) a comma after cooking c) a dash after pets

7. An ellipsis mark consists of

two dots
three dots
four dots
a) two dots b) three dots c) four dots

8. Which is NOT something an ellipsis mark can indicate?

a pause while speaking
an unfinished sentence
a very strong feeling
a) a pause while speaking b) an unfinished sentence c) a very strong feeling

9. "Michael was a highly-talented musician." What do we call the punctuation mark between "highly" and "talented"?

a hyphen
a line
a dash
a) a hyphen b) a line c) a dash

10. A dash is _______ than a hyphen.

shorter
quicker
longer
a) shorter b) quicker c) longer

Your score is:

Correct answers:

Contributor: Matt Errey. Matt is the author of several books including 1000 Phrasal Verbs in Context and Common English Idioms for learners, and Matt's ESL Games and Quizzes for teachers.
Basic Intermediate Advanced