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Difficulty: HardSentence Fragments

Cognitive linguists studying bilingualism have observed that children raised in multilingual households often develop cognitive flexibility at an early age. Because they must constantly negotiate between two distinct grammatical systems. This forces their brains to select the appropriate vocabulary while inhibiting the other language.

Which of the following choices is the best revision of the underlined portion?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. They must constantly negotiate between two distinct grammatical systems; thisAnswer
  3. C
    Constant negotiation between two distinct grammatical systems; this
  4. D
    They must constantly negotiate between two distinct grammatical systems, this

Answer

The option that changes the underlined portion to an independent clause and uses a semicolon to connect it to the next independent clause is the correct choice.
The correct option replaces the dependent clause fragment with a complete independent clause and uses a semicolon to connect it to the following independent clause. Since both clauses can stand on their own as complete sentences, the semicolon is the grammatically correct punctuation to join them.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the underlined portion and the surrounding context to identify grammatical errors.
The clause starting with 'Because' is a dependent clause that ends with a period, creating a sentence fragment.
A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.
2
Evaluate the options to find a choice that eliminates the sentence fragment while maintaining correct punctuation.
The option using a semicolon correctly connects two related independent clauses ('They must...' and 'this forces...').
A semicolon is the appropriate punctuation to link two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction.
3
Verify that other options do not introduce new grammatical errors such as comma splices or other fragments.
The comma-separated option creates a comma splice, and the option with 'Constant negotiation' before the semicolon creates a fragment.
Ensuring no new errors are introduced confirms the single correct option.

Key Concept

Identifying and correcting sentence fragments by ensuring all clauses standing as sentences have both a subject and a verb and are not subordinate, or are properly linked to other clauses using appropriate punctuation like semicolons.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Sentence Fragments

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