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Difficulty: HardCommas with Nonessential and Parenthetical Elements

The following passage is an excerpt from a biography of a historic figure.

When the chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge fell ill in 1872, his wife Emily Warren Roebling stepped in to manage the daily operations of the monumental project. The engineers who drafted the daily blueprints, which were critical to the project, met with Emily Roebling every morning to receive instructions. Ultimately, her dedication ensured the successful completion of what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world.

Which of the following is the most effective punctuation for the underlined portion of the passage?

  1. NO CHANGEAnswer
  2. B
    , who drafted the daily blueprints, which were critical to the project, met with Emily Roebling
  3. C
    who drafted the daily blueprints, which were critical to the project met with Emily Roebling
  4. D
    who drafted the daily blueprints; which were critical to the project, met with Emily Roebling

Answer

The correct option is the original phrasing, which leaves the restrictive clause unpunctuated and encloses the nonessential relative clause in a pair of commas.
The correct choice keeps the restrictive relative clause 'who drafted the daily blueprints' unpunctuated, as it is essential to identifying which specific engineers are being discussed. Additionally, it correctly sets off the nonessential relative clause 'which were critical to the project' with commas on both sides, separating it from the main flow of the sentence.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the underlined portion to identify the clauses and determine their essentiality.
The clause 'who drafted the daily blueprints' is essential (restrictive) because it specifies which engineers met with Emily Roebling. The clause 'which were critical to the project' is nonessential (nonrestrictive) because it simply adds descriptive details about the blueprints.
Essential clauses should not be separated by commas, while nonessential clauses must be enclosed in commas.
2
Evaluate the punctuation rules for both clauses to determine the correct punctuation layout.
No commas should precede 'who', but commas must enclose 'which were critical to the project', leading to a comma before 'which' and a comma after 'project'.
This maintains the grammatical structure of the sentence without causing fragments or separating modifiers from their nouns.

Key Concept

Commas with Nonessential and Parenthetical Elements
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Topics

Commas with Nonessential and Parenthetical Elements

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