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Question

Difficulty: EasySemicolons

The new library features large glass windows; it receives a significant amount of natural light during the day.

Which of the following options is the best replacement for the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. windows; itAnswer
  2. B
    windows, it
  3. C
    windows; which
  4. D
    windows; because it

Answer

The correct option is the one that uses a semicolon to connect the two independent clauses: 'windows; it'.
The correct option uses a semicolon to properly join two related independent clauses. Both parts of the sentence express complete thoughts and can stand alone as sentences, making the semicolon the correct punctuation mark.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the grammatical structure of the clauses surrounding the underlined portion.
The clause before the punctuation ('The new library features large glass windows') and the clause after ('it receives a significant amount of natural light during the day') are both independent clauses because they can each stand alone as a complete sentence.
Identifying whether clauses are independent or dependent determines which punctuation mark is appropriate to connect them.
2
Select the correct punctuation mark to join the two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction.
A semicolon is the correct grammatical choice to link two closely related independent clauses. Therefore, the original sentence structure is correct.
This punctuation prevents errors such as comma splices and sentence fragments.

Key Concept

Using a semicolon to link two closely related independent clauses.
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Topics

Semicolons

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