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Question

Difficulty: MediumColons, Semicolons, and Dashes

Based on the rules of Standard English conventions, which punctuation mark should be inserted in the blank to grammatically connect the two independent clauses in the passage?

Answer:In 19081908, excavations at the ancient palace of Phaistos on Crete yielded a mysterious clay disc covered in enigmatic stamped symbols. Despite over a century of intense scrutiny by linguists and cryptographers, the Phaistos Disc remains undeciphered 【;】 its true purpose and the language it records continue to elude scholarly consensus.

Answer

A semicolon should be used to connect the two independent clauses.
A semicolon is the correct punctuation mark to join two independent clauses that are closely related and not joined by a coordinating conjunction. Here, the clauses on both sides of the blank are independent, and a semicolon properly links them without causing a run-on or comma splice.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical structure of the clauses surrounding the blank.
The clause before the blank ('Despite over a century of intense scrutiny by linguists and cryptographers, the Phaistos Disc remains undeciphered') and the clause after the blank ('its true purpose and the language it records continue to elude scholarly consensus') are both independent clauses.
Determining clause type dictates which punctuation marks are grammatically permissible.
2
Determine the appropriate punctuation mark to link two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction.
A semicolon is the standard punctuation mark used to link two closely related independent clauses when no coordinating conjunction (like 'and' or 'but') is present.
Using a comma alone would create a comma splice, whereas a colon is incorrect because the second clause does not explain, illustrate, or define the first clause.

Key Concept

Semicolons are used to link two independent clauses that are closely related in thought.
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Topics

Colons, Semicolons, and Dashes

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