Question

Select the correctly punctuated sentence.

• A. Paul's neighbours were terrible; so his brother's friends went round to have a word.
• B. Paul's neighbours were terrible: so his brother's friends went round to have a word.
• C. Paul's neighbours were terrible, so his brother's friends went round to have a word.
• D. Paul's neighbours were terrible so his brother's friends went round to have a word.

Answer 1

The correct option is C Paul's neighbours were terrible, so his brother's friends went round to have a word.

The given sentence has two independent clauses joined by a conjunction. A comma is used before a coordinating conjunction (here, 'so') to join two independent clauses whereas, a semi colon (;) is used between two independent clauses when the coordinating conjunction is omitted.

A colon (:) is used to separate two clauses when the second explains or illustrates the first.

According to the given reason, Options A,B and D can be termed incorrect and the correct answer is Option C.