Question 34·Easy·Boundaries
In their study of plant responses to drought, researchers observed that when water becomes scarce, ____
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For Standard English conventions questions about sentence endings, first decide if the sentence is a statement or a question by reading it with the blank. Then quickly eliminate choices with punctuation that doesn’t match (period vs. question mark vs. exclamation point). Finally, check word order and clause structure—after reporting verbs like "observed that" or "reported that," you almost always need a normal statement clause (subject + verb), not a question form.
Hints
Identify the sentence type
Ask yourself: Is this sentence reporting information or asking a question? Focus on the phrase "researchers observed that…".
Look at the end punctuation
Think about what kind of punctuation a reporting sentence should end with. Which options match that?
Check the word order after the comma
After "when water becomes scarce," should the words sound like a question (with a helping verb before the subject) or like a regular statement?
Match both structure and punctuation
Pick the choice that uses normal statement word order and the correct end punctuation for a reporting sentence.
Step-by-step Explanation
Decide if the sentence is a question or a statement
Read the whole sentence with a blank: "In their study of plant responses to drought, researchers observed that when water becomes scarce, ____". This is reporting something researchers observed, not asking a question, so the completed sentence must be a statement, not a question.
Check the punctuation at the end
If the sentence is a statement, it should end with a period, not a question mark.
- Any choice that ends with a question mark does not fit the sentence type.
So you can immediately rule out options that end with
?.
Check word order inside the blank
Inside a statement clause in English, we usually use subject + verb order, such as "plants close". In a question, the order often flips to helping verb + subject, such as "do plants close". Because this blank is part of a statement that follows "observed that," we need normal statement word order, not question word order.
Choose the option that fits both structure and punctuation
Eliminate choices that:
- End with a question mark (they treat the clause as a question), or
- Begin with "do" before the subject (they use question word order). The only remaining option that forms a grammatical statement with correct punctuation is B) plants close their stomata to conserve moisture.