Question

Which of the following is punctuated correctly?1) I need to know whether you are able to perform the following functions of the job, revising existing marketing materials, promoting the company at trade shows, and reaching potential customers through direct mail campaigns.2) I need to know whether you are able to perform the following functions of the job; revising existing marketing materials, promoting the company at trade shows, and reaching potential customers through direct mail campaigns.3) I need to know whether you are able to perform the following functions of the job: revising existing marketing materials, promoting the company at trade shows, and reaching potential customers through direct mail campaigns.

Answer 1

The following sentence is punctuated properly: "I need to know whether you are able to perform the following functions of the job: revising existing marketing materials, promoting the company at trade shows, and reaching potential customers through direct mail campaigns." (3).

There should be a colon after the first clause because the second part of the sentence is a list of items (in this case, a list of the "functions of the job").

A comma would be too weak in this case because it would fail to express this idea of a list of specific examples completing the independent clause.

A semicolon would be inaccurate because they are usually used between two independent clauses when you don't want to link them with a conjunction (like and). They are stronger than a comma and weaker than a period. In this sentence however, the second part is not an independent clause but a list without a verb.