[Video] Q24: No change or hearings or depositions or hearings, depositions, or hearings, depositions

Explanation for Question 24 From the Writing Section on the Official Sat Practice Test 8

So we can see the question. Number 24 is a punctuation question. 2 And whenever you see punctuation, you just need to figure out what is happening 3 in the sentence. What kind of clauses do I have, 4 or am I trying to make a list? So if we look at 24, 5 it says court reporters for years have been the record keepers of the court 6 taking scrupulous or detailed notes during hearings, 7 depositions, and other legal proceedings. 8 So this was just one full sentence. We're not splitting it up into two 9 independent clauses or anything, right? 10 And we have a list of places where they take notes. 11 We have an X, Y, 12 and Z, right. Hearings, depositions, 13 and other legal proceedings. And when we're setting up a list, 14 we need to put commas between everything. 15 And then we need to put an and between the last two things. 16 And so if we look at 24, as it's written, I have a semi-colon 17 instead of a comma. 18 Whereas what I actually want here is going to be two commas to separate 19 the first two things in my list. 20 And the only answer choice that has the two cause is the, 21 the other ones are still using semi-colons. 22 And so it's true. You can use semi-colons in a list, 23 but you usually use semi-colons and really long lists. 24 Right? And this is a short list, just three things. 25 The three things are single words, 26 right? Or just a couple of words. So there's no need to use the 27 semi-colon. You just want to use the comma. So our best answer is going 28 to be C.