Question 159·Hard·Boundaries
Known for her meticulous field notes, biologist Jane Goodall spent decades observing chimpanzees in the wild. Her recordings transformed _____ but they also reshaped public attitudes toward animal intelligence.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For boundaries questions, first decide whether you have two independent clauses. If a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) follows the blank and the clause after it could stand alone, you almost always need a comma before that conjunction. Eliminate choices that create patterns like “; but” or that omit the needed comma.
Hints
Check for complete sentences on both sides
Read the part before the blank and the part after it. Does each part have a subject and a verb (i.e., can each stand alone as a sentence)?
Look at the word immediately after the blank
The word right after the blank is “but.” What punctuation normally comes right before “but” when it joins two independent clauses?
Avoid punctuation patterns that don’t fit
Semicolons and colons generally are not followed immediately by coordinating conjunctions like “but.”
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the clauses on both sides of the blank
Before the blank: “Her recordings transformed primatology” has a subject (“Her recordings”) and a verb (“transformed”), so it is an independent clause.
After the blank: “but they also reshaped public attitudes toward animal intelligence” includes another independent clause (“they … reshaped”) introduced by the coordinating conjunction “but.”
Apply the rule for joining independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction
When two independent clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS), use a comma before the conjunction:
So we need a comma after “primatology” because “but” follows immediately after the blank.
Eliminate the other punctuation choices
- “primatology,” correctly places a comma before the coordinating conjunction “but.”
- “primatology;” is incorrect because it creates the nonstandard pattern “; but.”
- “primatology:” is incorrect because a colon is not used to connect two independent clauses in this way.
- “primatology” (no punctuation) is incorrect because it omits the required comma before “but” when joining two independent clauses.
Therefore, the correct answer is “primatology,”.