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Question

Difficulty: MediumDashes

The passage below contains a non-essential modifier. Which punctuation mark should be placed in the blank to ensure the sentence is punctuated correctly?

Answer:Though often viewed as simple scavengers, spotted hyenas are highly sophisticated hunters—working in coordinated packs to bring down prey【—】that display complex social structures rivaling those of some primates.

Answer

A dash (—)
The non-essential descriptive phrase 'working in coordinated packs to bring down prey' is introduced by an em dash after the word 'hunters'. To maintain punctuation consistency, the phrase must be closed with another em dash before the relative pronoun 'that'. Mixing punctuation marks to set off a single parenthetical element is incorrect.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the parenthetical (non-essential) element in the sentence.
The phrase 'working in coordinated packs to bring down prey' is non-essential and could be removed without changing the core meaning or grammatical structure of the sentence.
This helps determine which punctuation marks are setting off this modifying phrase.
2
Examine the punctuation that introduces the non-essential phrase.
The phrase is introduced by an em dash ('—') after the word 'hunters'.
In English grammar and ACT style, non-essential elements must be set off by matching punctuation marks: either two commas, two parentheses, or two dashes.
3
Select the matching punctuation mark for the end of the phrase.
To match the opening em dash, the blank must be filled with a closing em dash ('—').
Using a comma, semicolon, or parenthesis would violate punctuation consistency rules.

Key Concept

Punctuation consistency with non-essential elements
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Topics

Dashes

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