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Question

Difficulty: EasySemicolons

Many tourists visit the Grand Canyon to see its famous red rock layers; others prefer to hike down to the Colorado River.

Which choice best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. NO CHANGEAnswer
  2. B
    layers, others
  3. C
    layers; while others
  4. D
    layers, others who

Answer

The correct option is the one that keeps the semicolon to join the two independent clauses: 'layers; others'.
The original sentence contains two independent clauses: 'Many tourists visit the Grand Canyon to see its famous red rock layers' and 'others prefer to hike down to the Colorado River.' A semicolon is the correct punctuation mark to join these two independent clauses when no coordinating conjunction is present.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the two clauses surrounding the punctuation mark.
The first clause is 'Many tourists visit the Grand Canyon to see its famous red rock layers,' and the second clause is 'others prefer to hike down to the Colorado River.'
To determine the correct punctuation, we must first analyze the grammatical structure of the clauses.
2
Determine if both clauses are independent.
Both clauses can stand alone as complete sentences because they each contain a subject and a verb and express a complete thought.
Independent clauses must be joined by a semicolon, or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction.
3
Select the option that correctly joins the two independent clauses.
The semicolon in the original phrasing correctly joins the two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction, so the original sentence requires no changes.
A semicolon is appropriate here because there is no coordinating conjunction (such as 'and' or 'but') to link the two independent clauses.

Key Concept

Semicolons are used to link two independent clauses that are closely related in thought, without using a coordinating conjunction.
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Semicolons

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