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Question

Difficulty: HardSemicolons

The sentence below is missing a crucial punctuation mark between two independent clauses linked by a conjunctive adverb. What punctuation mark should be placed in the blank to correctly join these clauses?

Answer:The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located on a remote Norwegian island, acts as a safety net for the world's crops【;】 consequently, the facility is built deep inside a sandstone mountain to withstand catastrophic events.

Answer

A semicolon (;) must be used to separate the two independent clauses before the conjunctive adverb 'consequently'.
A semicolon is required to separate the two independent clauses because they are joined by the conjunctive adverb 'consequently'. A comma is insufficient because it results in a comma splice, and a period is incorrect because the transitional word 'consequently' is not capitalized and remains part of the same sentence flow.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the two clauses in the sentence and determine their relationship.
The first clause ('The Svalbard Global Seed Vault... acts as a safety net for the world's crops') and the second clause ('the facility is built deep inside... to withstand catastrophic events') are both independent clauses because they can stand alone as complete sentences.
Before deciding on the punctuation, we must analyze the structure of the clauses to see if they are independent or dependent.
2
Examine how the two independent clauses are connected.
The clauses are linked by the conjunctive adverb 'consequently', which introduces a cause-and-effect transition.
Recognizing the transitional word helps determine the punctuation style required.
3
Apply the appropriate punctuation rule for joining independent clauses with a conjunctive adverb.
When joining two independent clauses with a conjunctive adverb like 'consequently', a semicolon must precede the adverb, and a comma typically follows it.
Using a comma instead of a semicolon would result in a comma splice, while omitting punctuation entirely would create a run-on sentence.

Key Concept

Semicolons with Conjunctive Adverbs
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Semicolons

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