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Question

Difficulty: MediumEnd-of-Sentence Punctuation

The following passage is an excerpt from an essay about Egyptology.

For centuries, the hieroglyphic inscriptions on Egyptian monuments remained an impenetrable mystery to scholars. In 1799, French soldiers discovered a dark granodiorite slab near the port city of Rashid. This artifact, later named the Rosetta Stone, contained the same decree written in three different scripts. The decipherment of the stone was not immediate, however, scholars struggled for decades to decode the glyphs because they did not understand that the symbols represented both sounds and concepts.

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

  1. A
    immediate, however, scholars
  2. immediate, however. ScholarsAnswer
  3. C
    immediate; however. Scholars
  4. D
    immediate. However, because scholars

Answer

The correct choice is the option that ends the first sentence with a period after 'however' and starts a new sentence with 'Scholars'.
The correct option uses a period to separate two distinct independent clauses. The word 'however' functions as an adverb at the end of the first sentence ('The decipherment of the stone was not immediate, however'), which is followed by a new sentence beginning with the subject 'Scholars'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the clause boundaries in the passage.
There are two independent clauses: 'The decipherment of the stone was not immediate, however' and 'scholars struggled for decades to decode the glyphs...'
Knowing where clauses begin and end helps determine which punctuation marks are grammatically required.
2
Evaluate the relationship between the two clauses.
Since both are independent clauses, they must be separated by a terminal punctuation mark (like a period), a semicolon, or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction.
Joining two independent clauses with just a comma results in a comma splice error.
3
Check the grammatical correctness of each choice.
Placing a period after 'however' and capitalizing the first letter of 'scholars' successfully separates the two sentences without creating fragments or splices.
This resolves the comma splice while maintaining the intended adverbial transition at the end of the first sentence.

Key Concept

Separating independent clauses with appropriate end-of-sentence punctuation to avoid comma splices and fragments.
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Topics

End-of-Sentence Punctuation

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