Question 186·Hard·Boundaries
Photographs attributed to the pioneering _____ appear throughout the museum’s new exhibit on the evolution of documentary photography.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For punctuation/boundaries questions, first identify the sentence’s core subject and verb and make sure nothing unnecessarily splits them. Then apply simple rules: a colon must follow a complete sentence; commas should not separate a noun from its essential modifiers or appear between two items joined by "and." Read each option in the full sentence, quickly eliminate any that create fragments, interrupt the subject–verb connection, or add unnecessary punctuation, and select the smooth, grammatically standard version that keeps the sentence as one clear, complete thought.
Hints
Identify what the blank is doing
Focus on the phrase "attributed to the pioneering ____ appear." Is the blank part of the subject, or does it start a new sentence or clause?
Think about punctuation inside the subject
Ask yourself: Should there be any strong punctuation mark (like a colon) between "photojournalists" and the names, or between the subject and the verb "appear"?
Check comma rules with names
When you list exactly two names joined by "and," do you usually put a comma between them? And should essential identifying information after a noun usually be set off by commas?
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the structure of the sentence
Read the full sentence with a blank:
"Photographs attributed to the pioneering _____ appear throughout the museum’s new exhibit on the evolution of documentary photography."
Everything in the blank is part of one noun phrase that completes "to the pioneering ___" (the object of the preposition "to"). Then the main verb is "appear." So we want a smooth subject:
"Photographs attributed to the pioneering ___ appear ..."
Check if a colon can appear inside the subject
Choice A uses a colon after "photojournalists."
A colon should come after a complete sentence (an independent clause) to introduce a list, explanation, or example. But here, if we stop at the colon, we get:
"Photographs attributed to the pioneering photojournalists:"
This is not a complete sentence because there is no main verb for "Photographs." So a colon cannot be used here, and A must be wrong.
Check the commas
Now look at the choices that use commas.
- Choice C: "photojournalists Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks," has a comma before "and" when listing just two names. We do not use a comma between two items joined by "and" ("Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks" needs no comma). The comma at the end also incorrectly separates the subject from its verb "appear."
- Choice D: "photojournalists, Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks" puts a comma between a noun and essential identifying information. If "Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks" is telling us which photojournalists, it should not be set off by a comma. Also, if it were an appositive, it would need a second comma after "Gordon Parks" to close it.
Because of these comma errors, C and D are both wrong.
Confirm the remaining option
The remaining choice (B) keeps everything in the blank as one continuous noun phrase with no unnecessary punctuation between "photojournalists" and the names, and it does not break the subject from the verb:
"Photographs attributed to the pioneering photojournalists Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks appear throughout the museum’s new exhibit on the evolution of documentary photography."
This follows standard English conventions, so the correct answer is "photojournalists Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks".