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

Read the following excerpt from a draft essay on public health policy:

"The implementation of strict municipal water fluoridation standards has significantly reduced dental caries across urban demographics, however, rural communities frequently lack the centralized infrastructure necessary to maintain consistent chemical monitoring, this discrepancy exacerbates existing regional health disparities."

Which of the following revisions best corrects the sentence boundary errors in the excerpt?

  1. The implementation of strict municipal water fluoridation standards has significantly reduced dental caries across urban demographics; however, rural communities frequently lack the centralized infrastructure necessary to maintain consistent chemical monitoring, a discrepancy that exacerbates existing regional health disparities.Answer
  2. B
    The implementation of strict municipal water fluoridation standards has significantly reduced dental caries across urban demographics, however, rural communities frequently lack the centralized infrastructure necessary to maintain consistent chemical monitoring, and this discrepancy exacerbates existing regional health disparities.
  3. C
    Although the implementation of strict municipal water fluoridation standards has significantly reduced dental caries across urban demographics. Rural communities frequently lack the centralized infrastructure necessary to maintain consistent chemical monitoring, this discrepancy exacerbates existing regional health disparities.
  4. D
    The implementation of strict municipal water fluoridation standards has significantly reduced dental caries across urban demographics however rural communities frequently lack the centralized infrastructure necessary to maintain consistent chemical monitoring, this discrepancy exacerbates existing regional health disparities.
  5. E
    The implementation of strict municipal water fluoridation standards has significantly reduced dental caries across urban demographics; however, rural communities frequently lack the centralized infrastructure necessary to maintain consistent chemical monitoring, this discrepancy exacerbates existing regional health disparities.

Answer

The revision that places a semicolon before 'however' and converts the final clause into an appositive phrase ('a discrepancy that exacerbates...') correctly repairs all sentence boundary errors.
The correct option properly resolves both comma splices in the original sentence. It places a semicolon before the conjunctive adverb 'however' to connect the first two independent clauses, and rewrites the third independent clause as an appositive phrase ('a discrepancy that exacerbates...'), integrating all three thoughts seamlessly and grammatically.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the independent clauses and punctuation errors in the original excerpt.
The excerpt contains three independent clauses joined solely by commas: (1) 'The implementation... demographics', (2) 'rural communities... monitoring', and (3) 'this discrepancy... disparities'.
Joining independent clauses with commas without coordinating conjunctions creates comma splices.
2
Evaluate punctuation around the conjunctive adverb 'however'.
A conjunctive adverb connecting two independent clauses must be preceded by a semicolon or a period, not a comma.
Using a comma before 'however' when linking complete sentences is a grammatical error.
3
Select the revision that correctly separates or subordinate clauses to eliminate all comma splices without creating fragments.
Replacing the comma before 'however' with a semicolon and changing the final independent clause into a subordinate relative clause inside an appositive noun phrase creates a syntactically sound sentence.
This maintains clear logical relationships between clauses while adhering to Standard English sentence structure rules.

Key Concept

Sentence Boundaries: Resolving Comma Splices and Run-On Sentences
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Topics

Sentence Fragments, Run-Ons, and Comma Splices

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