A punctuation question with several opening descriptions tests where extra information ends and the main sentence begins. Find the subject and main verb, then ask which earlier words describe that subject. Cross out the description to check whether a complete sentence remains. Check what each form needs: a comma sets off an opening description, a colon introduces a list or explanation after a complete sentence, and a semicolon joins complete sentences. With no punctuation, the words must fit together without a break.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start at Jordan Lee and find the verb that says what Lee does. Can that part stand on its own as a sentence?
- Hint 2
Check the words before Jordan Lee, including the words after the comma already in the text. Try crossing out that whole opening to see whether the main sentence still works.
Step-by-step
Cross out the opening description
Step 1Find the main sentence
Start with Jordan Lee often revises trail guides after each season. Who is doing what? Jordan Lee is the subject, the person the sentence is about, and revises is the main verb, which says what Lee does. These words form a complete sentence, so the punctuation question depends on how the earlier words connect to it.
- Step 2
Trace the full opening
What do the words before Lee's name add? A cartographer praised for crisp topographic maps and inventive route notes, describes Lee, and relied on by expedition leaders carries that description on. The comma after notes separates these details; it doesn't end the whole opening description. Cross out all the words before Lee's name, and the sentence about revising trail guides still works. The whole opening is extra information, words the sentence can do without, and it ends right before Lee's name.
- Step 3
Close the opening description
An opening description takes one closing comma, because the start of the sentence already shows where the description begins. The version with no mark leaves the description joined directly to Jordan Lee. The version with a colon and the version with a semicolon need a complete sentence before the mark, which the description isn't. The comma in hikers, closes the description right before Lee's main sentence begins. Choice D.