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Difficulty: HardCommas with Nonessential and Parenthetical Elements

During the late Renaissance, a guild of Venetian glassmakers guarded their secret formulas with fierce protectiveness. Any artisan who dared to share these methods, which were considered state secrets, with outsiders faced banishment or worse. Consequently, the island of Murano became the undisputed capital of luxury glasswork in Europe.

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

  1. NO CHANGEAnswer
  2. B
    , who dared to share these methods, which were considered state secrets, with outsiders,
  3. C
    who dared to share these methods, which were considered state secrets with outsiders
  4. D
    who dared to share these methods; which were considered state secrets, with outsiders

Answer

The correct choice is the option that makes no change to the sentence, as it correctly maintains a pair of commas around the nonessential clause while keeping the restrictive clause free of commas.
The correct option correctly keeps the sentence as written. The nonessential clause 'which were considered state secrets' is parenthetical and properly enclosed by a pair of commas. The essential relative clause 'who dared to share these methods... with outsiders' defines 'artisan' and is correctly left without surrounding commas, preventing the subject from being separated from its verb.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the structure of the sentence to identify restrictive (essential) and nonessential clauses.
The clause 'who dared to share these methods... with outsiders' is restrictive because it defines the specific group of artisans. The clause 'which were considered state secrets' is nonessential because it offers extra detail about 'methods' that is not required to identify them.
Distinguishing between restrictive and nonessential clauses determines whether commas are required.
2
Apply comma rules to the restrictive clause.
Do not set off the clause 'who dared to share these methods... with outsiders' with commas.
Restrictive clauses are necessary for sentence meaning and should not be isolated from the words they modify.
3
Apply comma rules to the nonessential clause.
Enclose the clause 'which were considered state secrets' with a pair of commas: one after 'methods' and one after 'secrets'.
Nonessential elements must be set off by punctuation at both their beginning and end to show they are parenthetical.
4
Evaluate the choices to find the one matching these rules.
The original phrasing correctly punctuation the clauses, making the no change option correct.
Only the original sentence keeps the essential clause unpunctuated while properly pairing commas around the nonessential clause.

Key Concept

Commas with Nonessential and Parenthetical Elements
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Topics

Commas with Nonessential and Parenthetical Elements

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