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I found 1a on a Jr. High EFL listening test. Is the punctuation here in 1a acceptable in this context?

1a) There are many things I have to do on Saturday. To clean my room and to water my garden.

I agree that there are better ways that 1a could be written. But my question is, is it acceptable to treat an infinitive phrase as a complete sentence like this?

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I would say that is incorrect, especially if it's on an EFL test. A complete sentence must have a subject and verb. Your second clause is a sentence fragment that probably should be joined with the first sentence. I'd suggest, "There are many things I have to do on Saturday, like clean my room and water my garden."

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  • I would say like cleaning my room and watering my garden.
    – Anonym
    Oct 14, 2015 at 2:47
  • I would personally just exchange the period with a semicolon . But it's not that easy. I have to be able to show proof that this is wrong. I believe it is wrong. I need to see the linguistic rule from a reputable source that says this is wrong. Otherwise it is just an opinion and I cannot influence the teacher I'm in contest with.
    – Joshua Robison
    Oct 14, 2015 at 2:57
  • Thank you. I just looked at the link that you provided. I think it will be enough. Who is the authority on what is an incorrect sentence anyway? I've seen the craziest shenanigans being passed for acceptable.
    – Joshua Robison
    Oct 14, 2015 at 3:00

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