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Difficulty: HardCommas with Nonessential and Parenthetical Elements

The following passage is an excerpt about a pioneer in botany.

In the early twentieth century, Mexican-American botanist Ynes Mexia began her career in her mid-fifties, traveling across the Americas to collect nearly 150,000 plant specimens. Her first major expedition that she undertook in 1925, which was funded by a local botanical society, yielded several new species. Mexia's adventurous spirit and meticulous documentation revolutionized the field of botany, proving that age is no barrier to scientific exploration.

Which choice provides the correct punctuation for the underlined portion of the passage?

  1. NO CHANGEAnswer
  2. B
    expedition, that she undertook in 1925, which was funded by a local botanical society, yielded
  3. C
    expedition that she undertook in 1925, which was funded by a local botanical society yielded
  4. D
    expedition that she undertook in 1925; which was funded by a local botanical society, yielded

Answer

The original phrasing is correct because it leaves the restrictive clause unpunctuated and correctly encloses the nonessential parenthetical clause within a pair of commas.
The original sentence correctly identifies 'that she undertook in 1925' as a restrictive relative clause, meaning it is essential to the sentence's meaning and should not be set off with commas. It also correctly identifies 'which was funded by a local botanical society' as a nonessential parenthetical clause and sets it off with a matched pair of commas.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the role of the modifying clauses following the noun 'expedition'.
The clause 'that she undertook in 1925' is restrictive because it defines the specific expedition, whereas the clause 'which was funded by a local botanical society' is nonessential because it adds descriptive information that is not required to identify the expedition.
Identifying whether modifiers are restrictive or nonessential determines whether they require punctuation.
2
Apply comma rules for restrictive and nonessential elements.
No commas should surround the restrictive clause, but a pair of commas must enclose the nonessential parenthetical clause.
Restrictive elements should not be separated from their nouns, while nonessential elements must be set off with commas at both the beginning and end.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the one that correctly applies these rules.
The original text correctly leaves 'that she undertook in 1925' unpunctuated and encloses 'which was funded by a local botanical society' with commas before 'which' and after 'society'.
The other choices either introduce commas around the restrictive clause, omit the closing comma of the nonessential clause, or introduce an incorrect semicolon.

Key Concept

Commas with Nonessential and Parenthetical Elements
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Topics

Commas with Nonessential and Parenthetical Elements

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