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Question

Difficulty: MediumSemicolons

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents support thriving ecosystems in the darkest depths of the ocean, they rely on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis to produce energy.

Which of the following options represents the correct punctuation for the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. ocean; theyAnswer
  3. C
    ocean; because they
  4. D
    ocean; and they

Answer

The correct choice is the option that replaces the comma with a semicolon to separate the two independent clauses without any coordinating conjunctions.
The correct choice uses a semicolon to connect two independent clauses that are closely related in thought. Since both 'Deep-sea hydrothermal vents support thriving ecosystems in the darkest depths of the ocean' and 'they rely on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis to produce energy' are complete thoughts that can stand alone as sentences, a semicolon is the appropriate punctuation mark to link them without a coordinating conjunction.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the two clauses in the sentence and determine if they are independent or dependent.
The first clause ('Deep-sea hydrothermal vents support thriving ecosystems in the darkest depths of the ocean') and the second clause ('they rely on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis to produce energy') are both independent clauses because they can stand alone as complete sentences.
Correct punctuation depends on the structural relationship of the clauses being joined.
2
Evaluate the current punctuation and the available options to join the independent clauses correctly.
The original sentence uses a comma to join the clauses, which is a comma splice. A semicolon alone can join two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction. Therefore, the option with the semicolon is the correct choice.
To fix a comma splice, you can use a semicolon, or a comma paired with a coordinating conjunction.

Key Concept

Using semicolons to link independent clauses
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Topics

Semicolons

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