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Question

Difficulty: MediumSemicolons

Read the sentence below about a scientific expedition. Which single punctuation mark must be placed in the blank to correctly separate the items in this complex list?

Answer:The research vessel carried a diverse team of scientists: Dr. Sylvia Earle, a marine biologist specializing in deep-sea algae; Dr. Robert Ballard, an oceanographer famous for locating historic shipwrecks【;】 and Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover, a pioneer in hydrothermal vent ecology.

Answer

A semicolon must be placed in the blank to correctly separate the complex list items.
The sentence lists three scientists, each followed by an appositive phrase containing a comma. When list items contain internal commas, semicolons must be used to separate the items to prevent confusion. A semicolon correctly distinguishes where one scientist's description ends and the next scientist's name begins.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the structure of the list in the sentence.
The sentence contains a list of three distinct scientists along with their descriptive titles.
Understanding the elements of the list helps determine the appropriate level of punctuation needed to separate them.
2
Analyze the punctuation within each list item.
Each list item contains internal punctuation (commas separating the scientist's name from their description).
Internal commas within list items require a stronger punctuation mark than a standard comma to separate the items themselves, avoiding confusion.
3
Determine the correct punctuation mark to separate these complex list items.
A semicolon is needed to separate the items in a complex list.
Semicolons are the standard punctuation mark used to separate items in a list when one or more of those items already contain internal commas.

Key Concept

Semicolons in complex lists
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Topics

Semicolons

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