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Question

Difficulty: HardCommas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

To catalog the rare specimens, the botanist collected several fragile, alpine buttercup samples, and she preserved them in hermetically sealed jars.

Which choice best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. fragile alpine buttercup samples, and she preservedAnswer
  3. C
    fragile alpine buttercup samples, she preserved
  4. D
    fragile, alpine buttercup samples; preserving

Answer

fragile alpine buttercup samples, and she preserved
The correct choice removes the comma between the cumulative adjectives 'fragile' and 'alpine' because 'alpine buttercup' functions as a single noun phrase modified by 'fragile'. Since these adjectives are cumulative and cannot be reversed or joined by 'and', they should not be separated by a comma. The choice also correctly retains the comma before the coordinating conjunction 'and' because it joins two independent clauses.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine if 'fragile' and 'alpine' are coordinate or cumulative adjectives.
They are cumulative adjectives because they cannot be reversed ('alpine fragile buttercup') and cannot be logically linked with 'and' ('fragile and alpine buttercup'). Thus, no comma should separate them.
Cumulative adjectives must not be separated by commas.
2
Check the clause structure around the conjunction 'and'.
The sentence is composed of two independent clauses: 'the botanist collected...' and 'she preserved...'.
Two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction require a comma before the conjunction.
3
Select the option that corrects the adjective punctuation and properly joins the independent clauses.
The correct choice is 'fragile alpine buttercup samples, and she preserved'.
It removes the comma between the cumulative adjectives and keeps the comma before 'and'.

Key Concept

Identifying cumulative adjectives and punctuating independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Commas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

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