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Difficulty: HardCommas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

Before the archivist could catalog the rare documents, she had to stabilize the brittle, yellowed, parchment sheets, and she worked under a fume hood to avoid inhaling mold spores.

Which choice best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    brittle, yellowed, parchment sheets, and she worked
  2. brittle, yellowed parchment sheets, and she workedAnswer
  3. C
    brittle, yellowed parchment sheets; because she worked
  4. D
    brittle, yellowed parchment sheets, she worked

Answer

The correct choice is the one that correctly punctuates the coordinate adjectives 'brittle' and 'yellowed' with a comma between them, leaves the transition to the noun phrase 'parchment sheets' unpunctuated, and connects the two independent clauses using a comma followed by the coordinating conjunction 'and'.
The correct answer correctly places a comma between the coordinate adjectives 'brittle' and 'yellowed' because they independently modify 'parchment sheets' (which is a compound noun phrase where 'parchment' acts as a noun adjunct). It correctly omits a comma after 'yellowed' to avoid separating the adjective from the noun phrase it modifies. Finally, it uses a comma and the coordinating conjunction 'and' to connect the two independent clauses, which is grammatically correct.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify whether the adjectives 'brittle' and 'yellowed' are coordinate and determine how they modify 'parchment sheets'.
The adjectives 'brittle' and 'yellowed' can be reversed ('yellowed, brittle parchment sheets') and can be joined by 'and' ('brittle and yellowed'), which means they are coordinate and require a comma between them. However, no comma should separate the final adjective 'yellowed' from the noun phrase 'parchment sheets'.
Coordinate adjectives modifying the same noun must be separated by a comma, but a comma must never separate the final adjective from the noun it modifies.
2
Analyze the clause structure following 'parchment sheets' to determine the correct punctuation and conjunction needed to connect the clauses.
The sentence contains two independent clauses: 'she had to stabilize the... sheets' and 'she worked under a fume hood...'. These clauses can be joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction ('and').
Connecting two independent clauses requires a comma and a coordinating conjunction, or a semicolon alone, to prevent run-ons and comma splices.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the one that avoids both coordinate adjective errors and clause boundary errors.
The choice that contains 'brittle, yellowed parchment sheets, and she worked' is correct because it correctly punctuates the adjectives and joins the independent clauses.
This option is the only one that avoids both the misplaced comma before the noun and grammatical errors like comma splices or fragments.

Key Concept

Commas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Commas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

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