Question 248·Medium·Boundaries
However, few cities allocate funding ______ experts warn that failing to act could increase costs later.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For SAT punctuation and sentence-boundary questions, first locate the main verbs and subjects to see how many independent clauses the sentence contains. If there are two complete clauses, check whether the choices provide a correct connector: usually a comma plus a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) or a semicolon. Eliminate options with missing commas, extra commas (especially after conjunctions), or that create run-ons or fragments, then choose the one that cleanly and logically joins the clauses.
Hints
Find the two main ideas
Cover the blank with your finger and read the sentence. Can the part before the blank stand alone as a complete sentence? Can the part after the blank also stand alone?
Think about how to connect full sentences
If both sides of the blank are independent clauses (full sentences), what do you usually need between them to avoid a run-on: a comma, a conjunction, both, or something else?
Watch the comma placement
Look carefully at where the comma would appear once the choice is inserted. Is the comma directly before the conjunction, directly after it, or missing altogether? Only one of those patterns is correct for joining two full clauses.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the structure of the sentence
Read the full sentence with a pause where the blank is:
"However, few cities allocate funding ______ experts warn that failing to act could increase costs later."
Before the blank, we have a complete idea: "few cities allocate funding for this research" (once we add the needed phrase). After the blank, we also have a complete idea: "experts warn that failing to act could increase costs later." These are two independent clauses (two full sentences) that need to be joined correctly.
Recall the rule for joining two independent clauses
When two independent clauses are joined in one sentence, there are two common correct patterns:
- Use a comma + coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
- Use a semicolon with no conjunction.
Here, the second clause starts with "experts," not with a conjunction or a semicolon, so we need an answer choice that provides the appropriate punctuation and conjunction between the clauses.
Test each option for punctuation and meaning
Insert each choice into the sentence and check:
- Does it keep the phrase "for this research" attached to "allocate funding" (which is required for the meaning)?
- Does it correctly join two independent clauses (with proper comma and conjunction placement)?
Eliminate choices that create a run-on (missing comma/connector), a comma splice, or incorrect comma placement (like a comma directly after a conjunction).
Choose the only grammatically correct option
Now check each option:
- B) for this research but → joins two full clauses with "but" but no comma, which is incorrect for connecting two independent clauses.
- C) for this research and, → places the comma after "and," which is not how we punctuate compound sentences; the comma must come before the conjunction.
- D) for this research → runs the two complete ideas together with no comma and no conjunction, creating a run-on.
Only A) for this research, and correctly attaches "for this research" to "allocate funding" and then uses a comma + coordinating conjunction to join the two independent clauses: "few cities allocate funding for this research, and experts warn that failing to act could increase costs later." So the correct answer is A) for this research, and.