Question 60·Hard·Boundaries
The physicist Lise Meitner, who helped discover nuclear fission, made groundbreaking contributions to radioactivity through her theoretical insights, meticulous experiments, and ______ her principled refusal to join the Manhattan Project, historians have hailed Meitner as a model of scientific integrity.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For SAT boundary questions, first identify where each independent clause (full sentence) begins and ends. Then, at the underlined portion, ask: am I connecting two full sentences, or adding a phrase to one sentence? Eliminate choices that create comma splices (two sentences joined only by a comma) or fragments, and check capitalization after periods and semicolons—words after a period start with a capital letter; after a semicolon, they usually do not unless they are proper nouns. Finally, read the sentence with your chosen option to make sure the meaning is logical and the sentence flows smoothly.
Hints
Find the two big ideas
Underline the part that describes Meitner’s work and the part that describes what historians think of her. Should those two ideas be in one sentence or two?
Check what follows the blank
Read the sentence starting from "Because of her principled refusal..." Does that part form a complete sentence on its own?
Match punctuation to sentence type
If the words after the blank can start a complete sentence, what kind of punctuation should come right before them? Also, should that next word be capitalized in that position?
Watch out for comma splices
Look for any choice that leaves you with two complete clauses joined only by a comma (with no joining word like "and" or "but"). Those create run-on sentences and should be eliminated.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the two main ideas
First, separate the sentence into its two big ideas.
- Idea 1: Lise Meitner’s scientific contributions (theoretical insights, experiments, lectures).
- Idea 2: Historians’ evaluation of her integrity because she refused to join the Manhattan Project.
Those are two complete thoughts; each can form (or be part of) its own sentence.
Locate the boundary between the ideas
The blank comes after the list of Meitner’s contributions:
"...through her theoretical insights, meticulous experiments, and ______ her principled refusal to join the Manhattan Project, historians have hailed Meitner as a model of scientific integrity."
So the blank must create a clear boundary between:
- the list ending in “public lectures”, and
- the new idea about “her principled refusal...” that leads into “historians have hailed Meitner...”
We need punctuation that cleanly ends the first idea and starts the second without creating a run-on or capitalization error.
Test what comes after the blank
Read only the part after the blank:
"Because of her principled refusal to join the Manhattan Project, historians have hailed Meitner as a model of scientific integrity."
This is a complete, correct sentence by itself. That means the punctuation at the blank should either:
- end the first sentence and begin a new one, or
- correctly join two independent clauses (if we stay in one sentence).
Now focus on what each option does:
- Is the punctuation before “Because of/because of” correct?
- Is the capitalization of “Because/because” appropriate where it appears?
Choose the option that creates correct sentence boundaries
Now examine each choice in place:
- A) "public lectures; Because of" – A semicolon can join two independent clauses, but the word after a semicolon should not be capitalized (unless it’s a proper noun). "Because" here should be lowercase, so this violates capitalization conventions.
- B) "public lectures, because of" – This makes one long sentence where two independent clauses ("Meitner made contributions..." and "historians have hailed Meitner...") are joined only by a comma and a phrase, which is a comma splice/run-on.
- C) "public lectures because of" – This wrongly links "public lectures" to "because of her principled refusal..." (illogical meaning) and still leaves a comma splice before "historians have hailed".
- D) "public lectures. Because of" – This cleanly ends the first sentence after the list of contributions and starts a new, grammatically complete sentence: "Because of her principled refusal..., historians have hailed Meitner..." This follows standard punctuation and capitalization rules.
Therefore, the correct completion is “public lectures. Because of” (Choice D).