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Difficulty: MediumSentence Fragments, Run-Ons, and Comma Splices

Read the following excerpt from a draft essay on behavioral economics:

"Although behavioral economists have long demonstrated that human decision-making is heavily influenced by cognitive biases, traditional macroeconomic models continue to assume perfect rationality, however, recent empirical studies from neuroeconomics are beginning to bridge this theoretical divide."

Which of the following revisions corrects the sentence boundary error while maintaining standard English conventions and preserving the original meaning of the excerpt?

  1. Although behavioral economists have long demonstrated that human decision-making is heavily influenced by cognitive biases, traditional macroeconomic models continue to assume perfect rationality; however, recent empirical studies from neuroeconomics are beginning to bridge this theoretical divide.Answer
  2. B
    Although behavioral economists have long demonstrated that human decision-making is heavily influenced by cognitive biases, traditional macroeconomic models continue to assume perfect rationality, recent empirical studies from neuroeconomics, however, are beginning to bridge this theoretical divide.
  3. C
    Although behavioral economists have long demonstrated that human decision-making is heavily influenced by cognitive biases, while traditional macroeconomic models continue to assume perfect rationality. However, recent empirical studies from neuroeconomics beginning to bridge this theoretical divide.
  4. D
    Behavioral economists have long demonstrated that human decision-making is heavily influenced by cognitive biases traditional macroeconomic models continue to assume perfect rationality, however, recent empirical studies from neuroeconomics are beginning to bridge this theoretical divide.
  5. E
    Although behavioral economists have long demonstrated that human decision-making is heavily influenced by cognitive biases. Traditional macroeconomic models continuing to assume perfect rationality; however, recent empirical studies from neuroeconomics are beginning to bridge this theoretical divide.

Answer

The correct revision places a semicolon before the conjunctive adverb 'however' to join the two independent clauses while preserving the introductory dependent clause intact.
The correct option addresses the comma splice by inserting a semicolon before the conjunctive adverb 'however'. The first part of the sentence contains an introductory dependent clause introduced by 'Although', which is correctly attached to the first independent clause ('traditional macroeconomic models continue to assume perfect rationality'). Because the clause following 'however' ('recent empirical studies... divide') is also independent, joining these two complete thoughts requires a semicolon before 'however' and a comma after it.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the syntactic structure of the original draft sentence.
Identified an introductory dependent clause ('Although behavioral economists... cognitive biases'), followed by the first independent clause ('traditional macroeconomic models... rationality'), and a second independent clause introduced by a conjunctive adverb ('however, recent empirical studies... divide').
Deconstructing clause boundaries reveals how ideas are connected and where punctuation breaks down.
2
Identify the punctuation error separating the independent clauses.
A comma splice occurs because a single comma precedes the conjunctive adverb 'however' when connecting two complete independent thoughts.
Conjunctive adverbs such as 'however', 'furthermore', and 'therefore' cannot join independent clauses with only a comma.
3
Evaluate the revisions to ensure grammatical completeness and correct punctuation.
The revision using a semicolon before 'however' properly joins the two independent clauses without introducing sentence fragments or fused elements.
A semicolon combined with a conjunctive adverb and comma establishes a valid coordinate boundary between independent clauses.

Key Concept

Sentence Boundaries: Correcting Comma Splices with Conjunctive Adverbs
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Sentence Fragments, Run-Ons, and Comma Splices

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