A punctuation question with the same transition in every choice tests where a sentence needs a break. Cover the transition, then ask whether each side can stand alone as a sentence. A transition can't join two complete sentences. A period or semicolon separates complete sentences, a colon introduces an explanation, and paired commas set off a transition in the middle of a sentence. Check the grammar first, then use the word’s meaning to decide which sentence the transition belongs to.
Hints
- Hint 1
Cover nevertheless and read the words on each side of the blank. Who is the subject, and what is the main verb, on each side?
- Hint 2
Look at the role of the words beginning with before. Do they make the words about peer review depend on another sentence, or do they add a timing detail to them?
- Hint 3
Check how nevertheless connects the two parts. What does the word mean, and how does it link Ortiz’s cataloging work to the peer-review requirement?
Step-by-step
Cover, split, and test the meaning
Step 1Cover and split
Cover nevertheless and read each side of the blank to find where a complete sentence could end. In Rachel Ortiz has cataloged, Ortiz is the subject and has cataloged is the main verb, while the shared word candidates completes what she cataloged. On the right, her findings must undergo rigorous peer review can also stand alone. The words beginning with before add when the review must happen, so both sides are complete sentences.
- Step 2
Rule out commas and missing punctuation
What can join these complete sentences? Nevertheless shows how they relate, but it can't join them by itself. The version with commas around nevertheless leaves a comma splice, two sentences joined only by a comma. The version with no punctuation leaves a run-on, two sentences with no mark or joining word between them.
- Step 3
Test the link in meaning
Does the need for review explain Ortiz’s achievement or show a limit on it? Nevertheless means even so: Ortiz has cataloged hundreds of candidates, yet her findings must undergo rigorous peer review. The second sentence adds a contrast to her achievement. That rules out the version with a colon, which needs the second part to explain the first.
- Step 4
Place the two marks
Put nevertheless with the need for review, where it introduces that contrast. A semicolon before the transition and a comma after it separate the complete sentences and set off the transition at the start of the second sentence. That gives candidates; nevertheless, at the blank. Choice C.