Punctuation Exercises

Commas and Semicolons

Correct any errors in commas and semicolons in the following sentences.

1. One witness, the president of the bank, was in her office at the time of the robbery, she could not possibly have seen the perpetrator.
    
2. The Barnett and Rivera courts specify that for a search warrant to be valid, the warrant must particularly describe what is to be searched. 
    
3. The court reasoned that because the affidavit did not name Rivera by name or description, a magistrate would be unable to conclude that police had probable cause to search Rivera or his vehicle.
    
4. The search of the vehicle was unconstitutional; and the court should suppress the resulting evidence.
    
5. The warrant lacked sufficient particularity and the exception to the warrant requirement does not apply.
    
6. When the defendant tried to leave the driveway the police stopped him and handcuffed him.
    
7. Therefore the toy gun should be excluded.
    
8. The Fourth Amendment guides the reasonableness of searches and seizures; and any search conducted outside of this guideline is unreasonable per se unless it falls within certain exceptions.
    
9. During the ride Mr. Garcia heard Jacob scream “Help Grandpa”! and felt Jacob clutch his shirt.
    
10. The plaintiff’s perception must be of a sudden, traumatic injury-producing event.
     
11. The foreman then administered cardio pulmonary resuscitation to keep his brother alive until the EMT appeared, however the foreman’s brother died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
     
12. Mr. Garcia sat next to his granddaughter Julia Jackson, while his thirteen-year-old grandson Jacob Jackson sat in the row directly behind them.
     
13. Mr. Garcia did have sensory perception of the accident even though he did not see it happen, because he heard Jacob scream, he felt Jacob pull at his shirt and he saw Jacob’s empty seat.
     
14. While they were at the park Mr. Garcia and his two grandchildren rode a rollercoaster.
     
15. Mr. Garcia likely did contemporaneously perceive his grandson’s injury and therefore, his claim should be able to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss.
     
16. Mr. Garcia and Julia sat beside each other in one seat; and Jacob sat in the seat directly behind Mr. Garcia.
     
17. The court will most likely reason that although Mr. Garcia did not visually observe his grandson falling from the roller coaster, he did perceive the incident by other means.
     
18. Mr. Garcia saw the original scene of the injury-producing event and he saw the initial injury to Jacob.
     
19. The physical distance between the place, where the ride was stopped, and the accident scene was about 300 linear feet; it took Mr. Garcia around one minute to get to the scene.
     
20. Jacob’s arm was twisted behind his trunk, his forearm appeared fractured and he had contusions on his head and torso.
     
21. Sensory perception is not limited to visual input, it can extend to other senses as well.
     
22. Mr. Garcia’s observance of the event included hearing his grandson screams for help on the ride; feeling his grandson’s hand grasp his shirt as he was thrown from the ride; seeing the empty seat where his grandson had sat; listening to his grandson’s screams and following them until he found his grandson lying beneath the rollercoaster; and cradling his grandson’s injured body in his arms until emergency medical personnel began to treat Jacob.