A punctuation question with a joining word tests how to connect sentences or parts of a sentence. Set the joining word aside and find who does what on each side. Then ask whether each side can stand alone. A semicolon separates full sentences, a colon adds an explanation after a full sentence, and a comma plus a joining word connects full sentences. If the second part doesn't say who does it, the joining word needs no comma, so don't decide by pauses.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the words about the ankle injury. Who is the subject, and which verb tells what that person did?
- Hint 2
Now look at the words about Camilla’s original plan. Check whether each side can stand alone, rather than deciding where you would pause.
Step-by-step
Test both sides of the join
Step 1Test the words about the injury
Set but, the joining word in every choice, aside to see what the punctuation must join. Can she injured her ankle in May and had to shorten her trip stand alone? Yes: she is the subject, the person the sentence is about, and injured is the main verb, which tells what she did. This side is a full sentence.
- Step 2
Test Camilla’s plan
Now read the first side with summer added: Camilla planned to hike the entire trail this summer. Could it stand alone too? It can, because Camilla is the subject and planned is the main verb. Both sides have their own subject and main verb, even though she refers to Camilla.
- Step 3
Use the complete join
With a joining word between two full sentences, the comma and the joining word work as a pair. But is that joining word here, so it needs a comma before it. The choice summer, but adds the comma the join needs and keeps the two sentences together. Choice D.