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Question

Difficulty: HardSentence Fragments

Consider the underlined portion in the passage below:

For decades, scholars attempting to decipher Mayan hieroglyphs struggled to understand the writing system's complex structure, which blended logograms representing whole words with phonetic signs representing individual syllables. Although early researchers believed the glyphs were purely symbolic and lacked any phonetic component. This misconception delayed a complete translation of the texts until the mid-twentieth century.

Which of the following choices is the most grammatically correct replacement for the underlined portion?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. Early researchers, however, believed the glyphs were purely symbolic and lacked any phonetic component.Answer
  3. C
    Early researchers believed the glyphs were purely symbolic; lacking any phonetic component.
  4. D
    Early researchers believed the glyphs were purely symbolic, they lacked any phonetic component.

Answer

The correct option is 'Early researchers, however, believed the glyphs were purely symbolic and lacked any phonetic component.'
The correct option removes the subordinating conjunction 'Although' and inserts the transitional adverb 'however' set off by commas. This successfully converts the dependent clause fragment into a complete independent sentence with a subject ('Early researchers') and a compound verb ('believed' and 'lacked'), allowing it to stand on its own.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the structure of the underlined portion in context.
The underlined section starts with the subordinating conjunction 'Although' and ends with a period, making it a dependent clause standing alone. This constitutes a sentence fragment.
Sentence fragments must be corrected to ensure the passage flows with complete sentences.
2
Evaluate the choices to find one that turns the fragment into a complete independent clause.
Removing the subordinating conjunction 'Although' creates an independent clause. Inserting 'however' set off by commas provides a logical transition from the preceding sentence without creating grammatical errors.
An independent clause must express a complete thought and contain both a subject and a verb.
3
Analyze the remaining distractors for grammatical errors.
One option uses a semicolon inappropriately to set off a dependent phrase, and another option links two independent clauses with a comma, resulting in a comma splice.
Checking all options prevents selecting answers with other sentence structure or punctuation errors.

Key Concept

Identifying and correcting sentence fragments by ensuring every punctuated sentence contains at least one independent clause.
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

Sentence Fragments

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