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Difficulty: Very hardCommas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

The restorers worked under a tight deadline to clean the exceedingly, rare, oil, paintings, and they documented each step of the conservation process.

Which choice best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. exceedingly rare oil paintings, and theyAnswer
  3. C
    exceedingly rare oil paintings, they
  4. D
    exceedingly rare oil paintings; documenting

Answer

The correct punctuation is 'exceedingly rare oil paintings, and they' because no commas should separate the adverb modifying the adjective, or the cumulative adjectives modifying the noun, but a comma is required before the coordinating conjunction joining the two independent clauses.
The correct option correctly recognizes that no commas should separate the adverb 'exceedingly' from the adjective 'rare', or the cumulative modifiers 'rare' and 'oil' from the noun 'paintings'. It also correctly places a comma before the coordinating conjunction 'and' to connect the two independent clauses.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the relationship between 'exceedingly' and 'rare'.
'Exceedingly' is an adverb modifying the adjective 'rare', so no comma should separate them.
Adverbs modifying adjectives are never separated from those adjectives by commas.
2
Analyze the relationship between 'rare', 'oil', and 'paintings'.
'Rare' and 'oil' are cumulative adjectives modifying 'paintings', where 'oil' acts as a noun adjunct closely tied to 'paintings'. Therefore, no commas should separate 'rare' and 'oil', or 'oil' and 'paintings'.
Cumulative adjectives cannot be reordered or separated by 'and', so they must not be separated by commas, and commas should never separate the final adjective from the noun it modifies.
3
Evaluate the clause boundary and structure after 'paintings'.
The sentence contains two independent clauses: 'The restorers worked under a tight deadline to clean the exceedingly rare oil paintings' and 'they documented each step of the conservation process'. Joining them requires a comma followed by the coordinating conjunction 'and'.
A comma and a coordinating conjunction are required to join two independent clauses to avoid a run-on sentence or a comma splice.

Key Concept

Punctuation of coordinate vs. cumulative adjectives, adverbs modifying adjectives, and independent clause coordination.
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Topics

Commas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

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