A punctuation question with different verb forms tests where extra information ends and which noun the verb belongs to. Find a mark that opens extra information, then cross out that information to see where the sentence continues. Use paired commas around extra information, a semicolon between complete sentences, and no punctuation where words belong together. Finally, match the verb to its subject: one thing takes a singular form, and more than one takes a plural form.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with the comma after the collection’s title, and look for where the reviewer description ends.
- Hint 2
Cross out the words beginning with which. What words on either side of the blank still need to connect?
- Hint 3
With the reviewer description set aside, find the noun the main verb belongs to. Does that noun name one thing or more than one?
Step-by-step
Cross out the insert, then match
Step 1Find the insert
The comma in Harlem Shadows, which some early reviewers comes right after the collection’s title. What does which begin? It opens an insert, extra information the sentence can do without, about how reviewers viewed the collection. Since the choices change both punctuation and the verb, we have to settle both.
- Step 2
Find where the sentence resumes
Where does that insert end? The description of the reviewers’ view ends with across the volume. The words now studied as a deliberately varied work describe how the collection is studied today. In reviewers treated as unified, treated belongs to the reviewers, so the collection still needs its own main verb. Cross out the reviewer description, and the collection connects directly to the verb supplied by the choices, so the insert ends before that verb.
- Step 3
Close the insert
Because Harlem Shadows, which opens the insert with a comma, a comma must close it. The version with no punctuation after volume leaves the insert open. What about the version with a semicolon? A semicolon needs a complete sentence before it, but the collection hasn’t reached its main verb yet.
- Step 4
Match the verb to the collection
What is being studied? The subject is Claude McKay’s 1922 poetry collection, one work. One collection takes a singular verb, which we can check as it is rather than they are. So across the volume, is gives this subject the verb it needs. Choice A.