A punctuation question with a title, name, and quotation tests which words must stay together. Read across the blank to see how the quoted words fit into the sentence. Then ask whether the name says which person. If it does, use no commas; if you already know which person it is, use a pair of commas in the middle of the sentence. Keep the subject with its verb, because a single comma can't separate them. Quoted words need no comma when they continue a clause. Use a comma when a clause that could stand alone introduces the quoted words.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read from “a perspective that” into the final quotation. Find the verb that tells what the perspective does.
- Hint 2
Look at the words before the name in the blank. Do they already identify one person, or does the name tell you which person is meant?
- Hint 3
Trace the subject and verb inside the blank, then connect the quotation to the surrounding sentence. Does the quotation finish the clause that starts with “a perspective that”?
Step-by-step
Trace the clause and test the name
Step 1Read through the blank
Read from a perspective that through the blank to reframes conservation, since we're deciding how to punctuate the words between them. What is doing the reframing? The perspective is, so reframes gives the verb for the clause about the perspective. The words in the blank name who makes that point and add the reporting verb notes, while the quoted words tell us what the perspective does.
- Step 2
Decide whether the name is essential
Does Jordi Santos say which policy analyst, or add extra information about someone already identified? Policy analyst names a job, and there's no a or one before it and nothing that singles out one person. The sentence needs Jordi Santos to identify the analyst, so the name is essential and takes no commas. The word that refers to the perspective, not the analyst, so it doesn't identify a person for the title.
- Step 3
Connect the subject, verb, and quotation
Now connect the analyst to notes: a single comma can't separate a subject from its verb, so none belongs after Santos. What about a comma after notes, where the quotation begins? Set the reporting words aside and read a perspective that reframes conservation; the quoted words give the perspective's verb. Since the quotation is part of that clause, it doesn't need a comma to introduce it, which gives policy analyst Jordi Santos notes. Choice D.