11 Plus Exams Forum

This should probably be on the English forum, but I thought someone here might have seen the paper I'm talking about!

I have just recieved the CSSE past papers to have a look through. Question 5 in the English paper from 2011 (Captain Corelli's Mandolin) asks the children to write out a sentence, adding the correct missing punctuation.

Pelagia was amused by the situation not so the cat

The answer book suggests it should be

Pelagia was amused by the situation-not so the cat

...with a dash. When reading it through, I mentally used a semi-colon. Can someone explain why the dash is preferable? Would a semi-colon be marked wrong?

These English papers are really tough!

Tsk, ignore my question! I have asked t'internet and now know the difference.

Which is ?
Do you mind Teachermun to explain a bit as I would have thought the same way as you did initially and I can not find information in t'internet = Urban dictionary ... Thanks !

I thought that this was unreasonable for a 10 year old child; however, the rest of the punctuation was easy.

According to askoxford.com the dash should not be used in formal writing as it replaces a comma, semicolon or colon.

I tried this exact phrase out on my family. I would have used a comma, OH a colon and DC a dash.

Reading through Fowler I think that perhaps a preposition would have been necessary for a comma, but in reality I am not a lot wiser regarding this sentence. OH is fairly certain that a colon is correct.

Interestingly, there was no choice on the answer sheet.

Semicolons can be used to separate two related sentences. If you could put a fullstop in between then you can use a semicolon. The other use is to separate a list that already contains commas or is more complicated than usual.

My name is Janet; I am seven years old.

This website is handy:

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/englishB8.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Does anyone else agree with the answer to question 1. Am I the only one who thought that powerful should have been on the answer sheet?

Ok. Thanks moved !
Maybe it is a daft thinking but in such cases, grey area where different punctations may seem plausible, is it possible that the mark would be attributed for a dash, a comma or a semi-colon, or would it be strictly only for a dash ?

The answer sheet had no flexibility. I wasn't taught punctuation at school really and have always found this hard work.

Ouch ! That's harsh !
Specially in such cases where I have the feeling it is not only difficult but it could also be controversial...

I've started a thread on the English forum to see if there are any experts.

Presumably the sentence comes from Captain Corelli's Mandolin. If anyone has the patience to skim the book and track it down, you can find out what the editor did!