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Question

Difficulty: MediumCommas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

While conducting bioacoustic research in urban parks, ecologists recorded how songbirds adjusted their vocalizations to surrounding city sounds. The team noted that the birds produced louder, higher-pitched signals; and they sang earlier in the morning to avoid masking by low-frequency traffic noise.

Which of the following choices best completes the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. birds produced louder, higher-pitched signals, and they sangAnswer
  3. C
    birds produced louder, higher-pitched signals, they sang
  4. D
    birds produced louder higher-pitched signals and, they sang

Answer

birds produced louder, higher-pitched signals, and they sang
The correct option properly uses a comma between the coordinate adjectives 'louder' and 'higher-pitched' because both adjectives independently modify 'signals'. Additionally, it correctly places a comma before the coordinating conjunction 'and' to connect the two complete independent clauses ('the birds produced louder, higher-pitched signals' and 'they sang earlier in the morning').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the clause structure of the sentence.
The sentence contains two independent clauses: 'the birds produced louder, higher-pitched signals' and 'they sang earlier in the morning...'
Determining clause independence identifies the appropriate punctuation needed to join them.
2
Evaluate the conjunction and punctuation joining the independent clauses.
Two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction ('and') require a comma preceding the conjunction, not a semicolon or a comma alone.
Using a semicolon with 'and' is redundant, and using a comma without 'and' results in a comma splice.
3
Verify the punctuation between consecutive adjectives.
'Louder' and 'higher-pitched' are coordinate adjectives modifying 'signals' independently (both 'louder signals' and 'higher-pitched signals' make sense), so a comma is required between them.
Coordinate adjectives require separating commas.

Key Concept

Joining Independent Clauses with Coordinating Conjunctions and Punctuation of Coordinate Adjectives
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Topics

Commas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

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