A punctuation question tests how marks connect the parts of a sentence. Start by checking the words on each side and ask how they connect. A semicolon joins complete sentences; commas separate list items or surround extra words; dashes surround extra words or introduce an explanation. Then find the subject and its verb: a subject names who or what the sentence is about. A subject and its verb stay together unless a pair of marks surrounds extra words.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the words before the blank and ask whether they could stand alone as a sentence.
- Hint 2
Find what will be on display, then replace that whole group of words with it. Where does the verb fall in the shorter sentence?
Step-by-step
Find the parts that belong together
Step 1Test the semicolon
A collection of rare botanical and the word from the choices name a collection. Could that group stand alone before a semicolon? It has no verb yet, so it isn't a complete sentence. A semicolon needs a complete sentence on each side, which rules out the version with a semicolon.
- Step 2
Find the subject and its verb
Read on to will be on display. What will be on display? It's the collection, so the whole phrase naming that collection is the subject, which tells us who or what the sentence is about. That phrase ends with the word in the blank, so the blank sits between the subject and its verb, will be.
- Step 3
Shrink the subject to check
Let's shrink the whole subject to it, giving us It will be on display. No mark belongs between this subject and its verb, because no extra words interrupt them. The version with a comma and the version with a dash would split that pair, so sketches completes the sentence without punctuation. Choice D.