A punctuation question after a list tests whether you can tell where the list ends and what follows it. Read the items to find the list's end, then test whether the remaining words stand alone. Semicolons divide items with commas, but between sentences they need full sentences on both sides. Periods separate full sentences; colons follow a full sentence and introduce an explanation or list. A comma can attach extra information at a sentence's end if the sentence works without it.
Hints
- Hint 1
Trace the three film entries from the colon through the final and. Check where the last film entry ends.
- Hint 2
Read “all accompanied by live orchestral scores” on its own. Check whether it has a main verb that says what happened to the films.
- Hint 3
Cross out the words after the blank and read the sentence again. What does the sentence still say, and what did those removed words add?
Step-by-step
Find the list's end and test what follows
Step 1Find the end of the film list
Start with premiered three restored silent films:, which starts the list we need to finish. Why are the entries separated by semicolons? Each title has a comma before its release-year detail, so the semicolons divide whole film entries. The final and introduces Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, whose release year ends the list.
- Step 2
Test the final phrase
Can all accompanied by live orchestral scores stand alone? The word all points back to the three films, and accompanied describes how they were shown. To stand alone, the phrase would need were before accompanied to make a main verb. A main verb says what happened to the films. These words are extra information, not a full sentence, so a period would leave a fragment, a group of words that can't stand alone.
- Step 3
Check what the phrase adds
Cross out all accompanied by live orchestral scores, and the sentence still names all three films and their release years. What do the added words do? They tell how the films were shown, rather than name or explain the films. No new list item or full sentence follows the blank, so a semicolon doesn't work here. A colon would wrongly present this added detail as an explanation or a new list.
- Step 4
Attach the extra information
Because the final phrase adds a detail about the films, we use one comma to attach it at the end of the sentence. The version with a comma after 1927 attaches all accompanied by live orchestral scores to the finished film list. Choice D.