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Question

Difficulty: MediumSentence Fragments

In 1938, a South African museum curator named Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer encountered an unusual blue fish among a local trawler's catch. Recognizing the specimen as something extraordinary, even though she could not immediately identify it. She contacted J.L.B. Smith, a local chemistry professor and amateur ichthyologist, to help classify the creature.

Which choice most effectively corrects the underlined portion to form a grammatically complete sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. She recognized the specimen as something extraordinary. Although she could not immediately identify it, sheAnswer
  3. C
    Recognizing the specimen as something extraordinary; even though she could not immediately identify it, she
  4. D
    She recognized the specimen as something extraordinary, although she could not immediately identify it, she

Answer

The choice that begins 'She recognized the specimen...' correctly creates two separate, complete sentences.
The correct choice successfully resolves the fragment by creating two distinct, grammatically complete sentences. The first sentence is an independent clause ('She recognized the specimen as something extraordinary.') containing a clear subject and verb. The second sentence properly joins an introductory dependent clause ('Although she could not immediately identify it') to the main independent clause using a comma.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the structure of the underlined portion and the surrounding text.
The first group of words ('Recognizing the specimen... identify it.') is separated by a period but lacks a subject and a main verb, making it a sentence fragment.
Identifying sentence boundaries and fragments is the first step in solving structure questions.
2
Evaluate the choices to see which option establishes an independent clause for both sentence parts.
Changing the first part to 'She recognized the specimen...' introduces a subject ('She') and a main verb ('recognized'), establishing a complete independent clause.
A complete sentence requires at least one independent clause containing a subject and a verb.
3
Check the punctuation and conjunctions in the second sentence part to avoid comma splices or run-ons.
The second part ('Although she could not immediately identify it, she contacted...') correctly links a dependent clause to an independent clause using a comma.
Ensures the correct option does not introduce new structural or punctuation errors.

Key Concept

Sentence Fragments
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Sentence Fragments

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