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Question

Difficulty: MediumSentence Fragments

During the Renaissance, cartographers in Venice created highly detailed sea charts to assist merchants navigating the Mediterranean. The archivist discovered a series of these maps. Which illustrated the shifting coastlines and ports that have since disappeared under the rising tide.

Which of the following is the best replacement for the underlined portion?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. B
    maps; which illustrated
  3. C
    maps, they illustrated
  4. maps that illustratedAnswer

Answer

The correct answer is the option that replaces the fragment with 'maps that illustrated', creating a grammatically correct relative clause that modifies the preceding noun.
The correct choice connects the relative clause directly to the noun it modifies ('maps') within the same sentence, correcting the fragment and forming a single, coherent independent clause.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical role of the underlined text.
The clause beginning with 'Which' is a dependent relative clause that modifies 'maps'.
This is necessary to determine if the underlined text contains a complete independent thought or is a fragment.
2
Evaluate the original sentence structure to check for fragments.
The dependent relative clause is separated from the independent clause by a period, which creates a sentence fragment.
This identifies why the original punctuation is grammatically incorrect.
3
Assess the options to find a grammatically sound correction.
The option using 'maps that illustrated' correctly joins the description to the main noun without introducing a semicolon fragment or a comma splice.
This selects the choice that forms a complete, grammatically correct sentence.

Key Concept

Sentence Fragments
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Sentence Fragments

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