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Grade 8 Semicolons, Colons, Dashes & Hyphens Worksheet with Answers

Grade 8 (US) · Year 9 (UK) · Class 8 (India) · English

Unit 2: Punctuation & SpellingCommas, Ellipses & DashesCCSS L.8.2a

Using semicolons, colons, dashes, hyphens and ellipses correctly. This free middle school worksheet has 12 questions and a full answer key. Print it or save it as a PDF — every answer is checked by code, not guessed.

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Semicolons, Colons, Dashes & Hyphens

Grade 8 · English

Score___ / 12

Name

Class

Date

Learning goal: Commas, Ellipses & Dashes · CCSS L.8.2a

Directions: Read each question carefully. Circle the correct choice or write your answer on the line.

Example

Semicolon or comma? 'I love tea ____ my sister loves coffee.'

Answer: semicolon (;)

RememberPunctuation marks

.full stop / periodends a statement?question markends a question!exclamation markshows strong feeling,commalists, pauses“ ”quotation marksaround spoken words’apostrophedon't, Sam's;semicolonjoins two sentences:colonintroduces a list
  1. 1

    Which is correct: 'a five year old girl' or 'a five-year-old girl'?

    A five year old girlA five-year-old girl
  2. 2

    Add the colon: 'She had one goal win the race.'

  3. 3

    Should there be a hyphen in 'a very happy child'?

    YesNo
  4. 4

    Add the apostrophe: 'the childrens toys'

  5. 5

    Add hyphens: 'a well known author'

  6. 6

    Fix the punctuation in this list: 'We visited Paris, France, Rome, Italy, and Madrid, Spain.'

  7. 7

    Add the semicolon: 'The storm was over the sun came out.'

  8. 8

    Add the hyphen: 'my sister in law'

  9. 9

    Add the semicolon and comma: 'It was late however we kept working.'

  10. 10

    Which mark shows words left out of a quotation?

  11. 11

    Which mark shows a sudden break in thought: 'I was going to call you but then I forgot.'

  12. 12

    Which mark introduces a list: 'You need three things a pen, paper and a ruler.'

★ Challenge corner for fast finishers

What has many teeth but can't bite?

How did I do?

Teacher's comments

Free printable worksheets with answer keys · aethelsystems.com/worksheets/english/8/punctuation_adv

Answer key (click to show)
  1. 1.a five-year-old girl
  2. 2.She had one goal: win the race.
  3. 3.no (adverbs ending in -ly or 'very' don't take hyphens)
  4. 4.the children's toys
  5. 5.a well-known author
  6. 6.We visited Paris, France; Rome, Italy; and Madrid, Spain.
  7. 7.The storm was over; the sun came out.
  8. 8.my sister-in-law
  9. 9.It was late; however, we kept working.
  10. 10.ellipsis (...)
  11. 11.dash (—)
  12. 12.colon (:)
  13. ★a comb (challenge corner)

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Guides for teaching Semicolons, Colons, Dashes & Hyphens

7 Reading Comprehension Strategies Every Student Should UsePredict, question, visualize, summarize and more — what good readers do automatically, and how to practise each one.Literary Devices: 20 Examples Every Student Should KnowSimile, metaphor, personification, irony and more — each with a clear definition, an example, and a quick test for telling similar devices apart.Simple, Compound, Complex and Compound-Complex Sentences ExplainedA clear way to tell the four sentence structures apart, with examples and the two-question test students can use on any sentence.

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