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Question

Difficulty: EasyCommas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

Because the botanist needed to collect various plant specimens, she searched the meadow for wild daisies, red clover, and sweet clover.

Which choice best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. specimens, she searched the meadow for wild daisies, red clover, andAnswer
  2. B
    specimens; she searched the meadow for wild daisies, red clover, and
  3. C
    specimens, she searched the meadow for wild daisies, red clover and,
  4. D
    specimens, she searched the meadow for wild daisies, red clover, she also gathered

Answer

The correct option is the one that retains the comma after 'specimens' to separate the introductory dependent clause from the main clause, and maintains the standard series of commas with the coordinating conjunction 'and' to separate the list items.
The correct choice properly separates the introductory dependent clause from the independent clause with a comma. It also correctly punctuates the list of three items by placing a comma after each of the first two items and before the coordinating conjunction.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the clause boundary
The sentence begins with the subordinating conjunction 'Because', making 'Because the botanist needed to collect various plant specimens' a dependent introductory clause. Standard English conventions require a comma after this clause to separate it from the main independent clause.
Introductory dependent clauses must be separated from the main clause by a comma.
2
Analyze the list structure
The sentence contains a three-item list: 'wild daisies', 'red clover', and 'sweet clover'. Standard punctuation requires commas separating the items, with a comma and a coordinating conjunction before the final item.
Commas are used to separate items in a list of three or more elements.
3
Evaluate the choices
The original phrasing uses a comma after 'specimens' and the correct list punctuation 'wild daisies, red clover, and'. Semicolons cannot separate dependent clauses, comma placement after 'and' is incorrect, and replacing the conjunction with a new clause creates a comma splice.
Option A is correct, while other options introduce grammatical errors like fragments, misplaced commas, or comma splices.

Key Concept

Commas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives
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Topics

Commas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

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