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Zorluk: OrtaPunctuation of Nonessential Elements

The following passage is from an academic text about South American archaeology. Complete the passage by entering the single punctuation mark that should go in the blank to correctly set off the nonessential element.

Cevap:In 1992, archaeologist Maria Gutierrez uncovered a collection of ancient stone tools at the Arroyo Seco site in Argentina. The artifacts, which were found in close association with the remains of extinct Pleistocene megafauna【,】strongly suggest that early humans inhabited South America thousands of years earlier than previously assumed by the scientific community.

Cevap

A comma is the correct punctuation mark to set off the nonessential element.
The sentence contains the nonessential relative clause 'which were found in close association with the remains of extinct Pleistocene megafauna.' Because this clause is introduced with a comma after the noun 'artifacts', it must also be closed with a comma before the verb 'strongly suggest' to maintain punctuation symmetry.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Identify the nonessential element within the sentence.
The phrase 'which were found in close association with the remains of extinct Pleistocene megafauna' is a nonessential relative clause that provides extra description but is not grammatically essential to the main clause.
This helps determine which part of the sentence needs to be set off by punctuation.
2
Locate the punctuation mark used to open the nonessential clause.
The clause is introduced with a comma after the word 'artifacts'.
Symmetrical punctuation rules require that the opening and closing punctuation marks for a nonessential element must match.
3
Determine the matching punctuation mark needed to close the nonessential clause.
Since the clause begins with a comma, it must close with a comma right before the main verb 'strongly suggest'.
Using a comma maintains punctuation symmetry and grammatically isolates the nonessential clause.

Anahtar Kavram

Nonessential elements (such as appositives, parenthetical phrases, or relative clauses) must be set off from the rest of the sentence using matching punctuation marks: two commas, two em dashes, or parentheses. Mixing punctuation marks (such as starting with a comma and ending with a dash) is incorrect.
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