Which sentence is written correctly? “We wanted to swim at the lake, but the water was too cold”

Use Standard Grammar, Usage, and Spelling to Edit · TELPAS Grades 6–7 writing. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Reporting category 2: find and fix an error in a short text. On the real test some of these are typed answers or sentence rewrites. Here they are multiple choice so they can be checked.

The question

Read the sentences. Choose the one that is written correctly.

Which sentence is written correctly?

• AWe wanted to swim at the lake, the water was too cold.
• BWe wanted to swim at the lake, but the water was too cold.Correct answer
• CWe wanted to swim at the lake but, the water was too cold.
• DWe wanted to swim at the lake the water was too cold.

Why “We wanted to swim at the lake, but the water was too cold.” is correct

This tests joining two complete sentences. "We wanted to swim at the lake" and "the water was too cold" could each stand alone, so they must be joined with a comma plus a joining word such as "but," or split into two sentences. The correct choice puts the comma before "but." The wrong choices show three common errors: a comma splice, a misplaced comma, and a run-on sentence.

Why the other answers are wrong

• We wanted to swim at the lake, the water was too cold. — This joins two complete sentences with only a comma, which is called a comma splice.
• We wanted to swim at the lake but, the water was too cold. — The comma belongs before "but," not after it.
• We wanted to swim at the lake the water was too cold. — This runs two complete sentences together with no punctuation or joining word.

Practice more of this

More writing practice for Grades 6–7, or see the TELPAS practice test for 6th and 7th grade.