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Difficulty: MediumCommas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

During their restoration of an 18th-century maritime map, paper conservators dusted the delicate brittle paper; repaired small tears, and documented the faint ink inscriptions.

Which choice best maintains standard written English punctuation conventions?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. B
    dusted the delicate, brittle paper, repaired small tears and she documented
  3. dusted the delicate, brittle paper, repaired small tears, and documentedAnswer
  4. D
    dusted the delicate, brittle paper repaired small tears, and documented

Answer

dusted the delicate, brittle paper, repaired small tears, and documented
The correct choice places a comma between the coordinate adjectives 'delicate' and 'brittle' because both modify the noun 'paper' independently. Furthermore, it correctly uses commas to separate all three parallel past-tense verb phrases ('dusted...', 'repaired...', and 'documented...') in the series.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Evaluate the relationship between the consecutive adjectives 'delicate' and 'brittle'.
Both adjectives independently modify the noun 'paper' (testing by inserting 'and' gives 'delicate and brittle paper', which is grammatically sound). A comma is required between them.
Coordinate adjectives modifying the same noun require a comma separator.
2
Examine the sentence structure to identify the list elements.
The subject 'paper conservators' performs three parallel actions: 'dusted...', 'repaired...', and 'documented...'.
Items in a series must maintain parallel grammatical form.
3
Check the punctuation separating the items in the series.
The three verb phrases should be separated by commas, with a coordinating conjunction ('and') preceding the final item.
A simple list of three items requires serial commas to clearly delineate each action.

Key Concept

Commas with Lists and Coordinate Adjectives
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Topics

Commas with Lists, Clauses, and Coordinate Adjectives

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