Question 104·Medium·Boundaries
During the public forum, the committee outlined ____ expand public transportation, fund affordable housing, and promote renewable energy.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For punctuation/boundaries questions, first find the complete thought before the punctuation and ask whether what follows is a list, explanation, or new sentence. If the first part is a full sentence and the next part is a list or explanation of it, consider using the punctuation that introduces lists (rather than commas or semicolons, which have different roles). Then quickly test each option by reading the sentence aloud in your head to check for clarity and whether each side of the punctuation is grammatically complete.
Hints
Find the subject and main verb
Identify who is doing what in the sentence. What did the committee do, and what information comes after that action?
Look at what comes after the blank
Notice that the words after the blank form a list of three actions. Ask yourself: how is this list connected to the word "priorities"?
Think about punctuation that introduces lists
The phrase before the blank can stand alone as a complete idea. When a complete idea is followed directly by a list that explains or specifies it, what type of punctuation is normally used between them?
Check the rules for semicolons and commas
Remember that a semicolon must join two complete sentences, and a simple comma usually cannot stand between a complete idea and a full list that explains it.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the core sentence structure
First, strip the sentence down to its main idea:
- "During the public forum, the committee outlined ____ expand public transportation, fund affordable housing, and promote renewable energy."
The core is "the committee outlined ____" followed by a description of what was outlined: a set of priorities or actions.
Recognize that a list follows
After the blank, we get three parallel items:
- expand public transportation
- fund affordable housing
- promote renewable energy
These are three things the committee outlined, so the blank must smoothly connect “three priorities” (what they outlined) with this list of actions.
Decide what punctuation is needed before the list
The part before the blank should form a complete thought: "the committee outlined three priorities." When a complete thought is followed by a list that explains or specifies it, English conventions call for punctuation that introduces the list.
A colon is used after a complete clause to introduce a list or explanation. A comma or semicolon would not be correct here, and having no strong punctuation at all would blur the structure.
Test each option and choose the one that introduces the list correctly
Now plug in each option:
- A) "three priorities, to expand..." – A comma is too weak here; it does not correctly introduce the list, and the phrase after the comma is not just a small added detail.
- B) "three priorities to expand..." – Without any strong punctuation, this makes "priorities to expand" act as one noun phrase. It does not clearly introduce the list and is less precise than standard list punctuation.
- D) "three priorities; to expand..." – A semicolon must join two complete sentences; "to expand public transportation..." is not a complete sentence.
Only C) provides a complete thought followed by a colon that properly introduces the list: "three priorities: to".