Which sentence is punctuated correctly? a) buffalo grass seed prefers warm soil temperatures, plant the seed during the hottest months of summer. b) buffalo grass seed: prefers warm soil temperatures; plant the seed during the hottest months of summer. c) buffalo grass seed prefers warm soil temperatures: plant the seed during the hottest months of summer.

B

Explanation: Option A is wrong because the comma after "temperatures" is being used to separate two independent clauses (that is what semicolons are for, when the clauses are closely linked in meaning, or periods when they are not). Option C is wrong because you shouldn't capitalize the first word after a colon unless it is a proper noun (and the colon is not properly used in this example).

type of error:

the error in the sentence is a "dangling modifier". a dangling modifier is a phrase, word or clause that "dangles" because there is not target to modify. in this case, "after mopping the floor" is the dangling modifier since it has no word to modify. the noun "house" cannot mop the floor; therefore there is a mistake in the writing of the sentence.