Question 28·Easy·Boundaries
Large numbers of social media ______ are turning to podcasts as their primary content outlet.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For punctuation and sentence-boundary questions, first identify the subject and verb of the sentence. Check whether the test is trying to separate them incorrectly or falsely suggest two complete sentences. Remember: do not place commas, dashes, or semicolons between a simple subject and its verb, and only use semicolons to join two full independent clauses. Eliminate options whose punctuation implies a structure that the sentence does not actually have.
Hints
Identify the subject and verb
Read the sentence around the blank and figure out what the full subject is and what the main verb is.
Think about punctuation between subject and verb
Ask yourself: in a normal sentence, do we usually put a comma, dash, or semicolon between the subject and the verb?
Review what a semicolon and dash do
A semicolon usually connects two complete sentences, and a dash often shows a break in thought or sets off extra information. Do you see that kind of structure here?
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the sentence structure
Read the full sentence: "Large numbers of social media ______ are turning to podcasts as their primary content outlet."
The main subject is the noun phrase "Large numbers of social media ___" and the verb is "are turning." Whatever fills the blank becomes part of the subject.
Decide if punctuation should separate the subject and verb
In standard English, you do not put punctuation between a simple subject and its verb unless you are adding extra information or creating a special break in the sentence.
Here, "Large numbers of social media ___" flows directly into "are turning" with no added phrase or interruption. That means we should not have a comma, dash, or semicolon between the noun and the verb.
Check what each punctuation mark would imply
A comma after the blank would wrongly separate the subject from its verb. A dash would suggest a break in thought or extra information that is not present. A semicolon must join two complete sentences, but "are turning to podcasts as their primary content outlet" is not a complete sentence on its own because it has no subject.
Therefore, the blank should simply be filled with creators with no punctuation afterward.