Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardColons

Deep-sea explorers diving near the Mariana Trench discovered a bizarre survival strategy employed by the telescope octopus: it spends its entire life floating vertically to minimize its silhouette against the faint sunlight from above.

Which choice best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. octopus: itAnswer
  2. B
    octopus, it
  3. C
    octopus; which
  4. D
    octopus that: spends

Answer

The correct option is the original phrasing, which uses a colon to separate the independent clause from the explanation that follows.
The correct choice maintains the original punctuation, using a colon to connect the independent clause about the telescope octopus's strategy to the independent clause explaining what that strategy is. A colon is grammatically correct here because it is preceded by a complete sentence and followed by an explanation.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the clause preceding the punctuation mark.
The clause 'Deep-sea explorers diving near the Mariana Trench discovered a bizarre survival strategy employed by the telescope octopus' contains a subject and a verb and is capable of standing alone as a complete sentence.
A colon requires a complete, independent clause before it.
2
Examine the relationship between the clause before the punctuation and the clause after it.
The clause 'it spends its entire life floating vertically to minimize its silhouette against the faint sunlight from above' explains the specific 'bizarre survival strategy' mentioned in the first clause.
A colon is used to introduce an explanation or elaboration of the preceding independent clause.
3
Evaluate the grammar of the alternative choices.
Using a comma results in a comma splice because both clauses are independent. Using a semicolon followed by 'which' creates a fragment because 'which' makes the second clause dependent. Placing a colon after 'that' makes the first clause incomplete and incorrectly separates the pronoun from its verb.
Each alternative choice violates standard punctuation or clause structure rules, confirming that the colon is the only correct choice.

Key Concept

Colons must be preceded by an independent clause and are used to introduce an explanation, clarification, or list.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

Colons

More questions from this topic