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Question

Difficulty: HardEnd-of-Sentence Punctuation

The following passage contains a blank at the boundary of two sentences. Which punctuation mark should be inserted in the blank to correctly terminate the first sentence?

Answer:In his keynote address at the global conservation summit, the climatologist asked whether the international community has the political resolve to restore the Mesopotamian marshes to their former ecological health 【.】 This question, which highlighted the tension between agricultural demands and conservation goals, set the tone for the remaining panels of the conference.

Answer

A period (.)
The correct punctuation is a period. The first sentence contains an indirect question introduced by 'asked whether', which functions grammatically as a declarative statement and therefore must end with a period. Additionally, the capitalization of 'This' after the blank confirms that a new sentence begins.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the grammatical structure of the first clause leading up to the blank.
The first clause is an independent clause containing the indirect question 'whether the international community has the political resolve...'.
Identifying the clause type determines whether it requires terminal punctuation and what kind of terminal punctuation is appropriate.
2
Determine the appropriate end-of-sentence punctuation mark for an indirect question.
Since indirect questions function as declarative statements rather than direct inquiries, they must end with a period rather than a question mark.
This avoids the common error of using a question mark for statements that merely report a question.
3
Verify the boundary with the subsequent sentence.
The word following the blank ('This') is capitalized, which indicates that a new sentence is beginning and therefore a terminal punctuation mark (a period) is required rather than a comma or a semicolon.
This ensures the sentence boundary is correctly punctuated without creating a run-on or comma splice.

Key Concept

Distinguishing between direct and indirect questions to determine correct end-of-sentence punctuation.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

End-of-Sentence Punctuation

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