The premiere of the play Silent Echoes at the Glendale _____ venue renowned for staging socially conscious dramas, drew widespread critical praise.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For appositive-punctuation questions, first remove the descriptive phrase and identify the sentence’s subject and main verb. Then determine whether the inserted phrase merely renames a noun. If it is nonessential, set it off with paired punctuation, using any punctuation already present after the phrase to determine what is needed at the blank.
Hints
Find the main verb
Locate the main verb “drew” and identify the complete subject that comes before it.
Examine the descriptive phrase
Consider whether “a venue renowned for staging socially conscious dramas” is essential to identifying the Glendale Theatre or simply adds information about it.
Check the existing punctuation
Notice the comma after “dramas.” Determine whether it closes a descriptive phrase that must also be marked at its beginning.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the main sentence structure
Without the descriptive phrase, the sentence reads: “The premiere of the play Silent Echoes at the Glendale Theatre drew widespread critical praise.” The subject ends with “Theatre,” and the main verb is “drew.”
Determine the role of the descriptive phrase
The noun phrase “a venue renowned for staging socially conscious dramas” renames and provides nonessential information about “the Glendale Theatre.” It is therefore a nonessential appositive.
Set off the appositive
A nonessential appositive within a sentence must be set off from the surrounding sentence. The existing comma after “dramas” closes the appositive, so the blank requires punctuation that opens it.
Eliminate the other choices
With no punctuation, the two noun phrases run together incorrectly. A semicolon cannot follow the incomplete subject and separate it from its main verb. A colon is also invalid because the words before it do not form an independent clause. Therefore, “Theatre, a” correctly completes the sentence.