GMAT - Verbal Sample Questions
Question #10
10a. Explain why the following sentence might be considered incorrect and rewrite the sentence so that it is correct: I love going to musicals; but I hate the opera.
10b. This sentence is incorrect because it contains two independent clauses that are linked by both a coordinating conjunction and a semicolon. Even though it may seem like this sentence is grammatically correct, the problem is that a semicolon can only be used in a sentence where there is a conjunctive adverb or no linking word at all. Since the word "but" is a coordinating conjunction and not a conjunctive adverb, the semicolon is incorrect in this particular sentence. The easiest way to fix this sentence would be to simply change the semicolon to a comma or change the coordinating conjunction "but" to a conjunctive adverb such as "however." This means that the correct sentence would be "I love going to musicals, but I hate the opera." or "I love going to musicals; however, I hate the opera.