A punctuation question with two marks that change tests how sentence parts connect. Work from left to right and ask whether each part can stand alone or leaves you waiting for more. Periods and semicolons separate full sentences, while commas can attach opening parts that can't stand alone but can't join full sentences by themselves. A colon needs a full sentence before it and introduces words that explain it. Check both joins, because fixing one doesn't make the whole sentence correct.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start at the word that opens the sentence with the blank. What does it make you expect later in the sentence?
- Hint 2
The choices change two marks, so test the two joins separately. Getting one join right doesn't settle the other.
- Hint 3
Check whether the words after the blank can stand alone. How do they relate to the idea about social meaning earlier in the passage?
Step-by-step
Test each join from left to right
Step 1Test the opening part
Read the part beginning Though listeners often associate creaky voice, because the first mark must connect it to what follows. Can it stand alone? It has a subject, listeners, and a main verb, associate, telling us who does what. But Though leaves us waiting for an idea that contrasts with it, so the opening part can't stand alone.
- Step 2
Finish the opening thought
A period after group and a semicolon after group do the same job: both need full sentences on either side. They would leave the part beginning Though listeners often associate creaky voice as a fragment, words that can't stand alone. A comma attaches that opening part to the rest of the sentence, where linguists is the subject and caution is the main verb.
- Step 3
Test the later join
At the second join, the feature’s use varies begins a full sentence: use is the subject and varies is the main verb. What about the words before it? The linguists’ caution completes the sentence that began with Though. Two full sentences meet here, so a comma alone creates a comma splice, two full sentences incorrectly joined by only a comma.
- Step 4
Link the caution to its reason
The feature’s use varies according to conversational setting, audience, and individual speaker, so why does that follow the caution? It explains why a link to one social group shouldn't be treated as fixed. A colon joins the complete caution to the reason for it, so choose the version with a colon after conclusion. Choice A.