A punctuation question with a verb that links two things tests where its parts belong. Read both sides and test whether each can stand alone; a period or semicolon needs a full sentence on each side. Then name the parts at the blank and ask which words are needed to finish the verb’s meaning. A phrase needed to finish that meaning stays attached without a comma, even if you would pause there.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the words after the blank. Could they stand alone as a full sentence, or do they depend on earlier words?
- Hint 2
Ask what the images connect, then shorten the two things they link to this and that. Does the phrase after the blank complete the link or add extra information?
Step-by-step
Test sentences, then follow the verb
Step 1Test the sentence breaks
Read her later decision to return home, the words after the blank. Could to followed by these words stand alone? That phrase names a decision but doesn’t say what happens, so it’s a fragment, a group of words that can’t form a full sentence. Periods and semicolons need complete sentences on both sides, so the version with a period and the version with a semicolon fail.
- Step 2
Find both things being linked
What does They connect link? The images link the protagonist’s childhood memories with her later decision to return home. The pattern is connect one thing to another, so the words after the blank give the second thing being linked. The phrase finishes the link, rather than adding extra information about it.
- Step 3
Test the shorter sentence
We can shorten the sentence beginning They connect to They connect this to that. A comma between this and to that would cut through the verb’s link, so no comma belongs after memories. The version memories to leaves the needed phrase attached. Choice B.