Which of the follwing marks of punctuation would be appropriate between the words life and fame?

Question

There was only one thing she wanted in life fame

A: Question mark B: Semicolon C: Hyphen D: Colon

Answer 1

D: Colon

Answer 2

I'm sure you already know that it's not A, question mark, since it's not a question and question marks belong at the end of questions, not right before a final word.

So that leaves you with 3 other choices. Everything up to, and including, life is kind of an announcement, a declaration for some piece of information you are going to share. You need a colon for something like that.

The semicolon can not be used here because a semicolon separates two clauses. 'Fame', by itself, can not be a clause.

Hyphens are really only for compound words or certain words with prefixes.

The dash is inappropriate here due to the definitive way the information is being announced. If there were more to the sentence, then dashes could be appropriate: There was only one thing she wanted in life--fame--and she would do anything to get it.

Answer 3

First off. Def not A.
A semicolon would mean that the word fame is a seperate clause, which it really is not. So not B.
A Hyphen works. It would indicate a pause in a way that makes clear to a reader, the certainty of the statement.
A Colon would have been my first choice, had hyphen not been a choice. But after thinking about it, I realized colons usually imply that there is a list. Although a colon would be perfectly valid here, hyphen is a better choice due to the fact that there is only "one thing she wanted"- fame.

Answer 4

Not A because you are not asking a question.
Not B because semicolons are only used to separate clauses. (A single word like "fame" cannot be a clause).
Not C because hyphens are used to join two words or word fragments into one word.

So definitely answer D: Colon, because colons are used to introduce further explanation on the idea just proposed.

Some times you will see another option, the long dash, used to introduce further explanation within the same sentence. Like this:

There was only one thing she wanted in life — fame.

Although the colon is still better, for your example.

Note that this dash is not a hyphen, but rather will be specifically typeset as either an "em dash" (for the width of the letter "m" in a given font), or an "en dash" (slightly narrower, for the width of the letter "n" in a given font).

Sometimes people will double hyphen (--) when they mean to indicate a long dash.

Answer 5

C--hyphen is best,but make it a double one or even a dash.
(1) you aren't asking a question, so A is wrong
(2)Semicolons are used mainly to separate two complete thoughts in the same sentence.
(3) Colon would be used only if you were going to add a list (for instance, if after life you put (1) fame, (2)money,etc).

Answer 6

A is out because there's no question before it.
B is out because a semicolon separates two clauses, and the one word fame isn't a clause.
C is out because a hyphen separates syllables and joins words in specific ways. If this choice were a dash, though, it would be correct.
D is the only one left, and indeed, a colon can be used in this case, to link words in apposition, a word that defines what came before or explains it.

Answer 7

A hyphen is used to join words to create a single word such as black-board.
A colon is normally used to illustrate a thought or create a list.
A dash can show a change in thought or a response.

I will prefer a dash for your question but the colon is best choice of the options given.

Answer 8

Colon--- this sign is used to mark a major division in a sentence, to indicate that what follows is an elaboration, summation, implication, etc of what precedes; or to separate groups of numbers referring to different things, as hours from minutes or the members of a ratio or proportion as in 1:2::3:6

Answer 9

The correct answer is C: hypen. Here is what your choices would look like:

A:There was only one thing she wanted in life? fame.
B:There was only one thing she wanted in life; fame.
C:There was only one thing she wanted in life- fame.
D:There was only one thing she wanted in life: fame.

A hyphen shows the reader that there is a dramatic pause between what they have read and what they are about to read. A colon can also be used, but that is more for listing and itemizing.

Good luck with your homework!

Answer 10

Colon.

Maybe a hyphen (typed as a double or long hyphen) if this was a quotation of what someone said, in a longer narrative passage.