A punctuation question about extra information tests how you separate a description from the sentence around it. Read around the blank and ask which parts can stand alone. Test whether the description is extra information by reading the sentence without it. Then check what each mark needs: commas or dashes can pair around extra information, a semicolon joins complete sentences, and a colon follows a complete sentence to introduce a list or explanation.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with the report and find both things it does. Who does the calling after the job title?
- Hint 2
Cross out the job title and read the sentence again. Does it still tell you what the report highlights and what it calls for?
- Hint 3
Read the full sentence with each option in place. Check what each punctuation mark does, including the marks already printed in the sentence.
Step-by-step
Find the description and match its marks
Step 1Follow what the report does
The report highlights the contributions of Maya and later calls for expanded resources. Who does the calling after the job title? The report does, which means the sentence carries on after the job title. The punctuation we add has to show where the description begins and ends, rather than treating the blank as the end of the sentence.
- Step 2
Test the job title as extra information
What does the lead data analyst tell us? It gives Maya's role, so it adds a description of the person already named. Cross out the title and read what's left: the report highlights Maya's contributions and calls for expanded resources. Because that remaining sentence works, the title is extra information the sentence can do without. After the title, the sentence returns to what the report does. This puts the description in the middle, even though the words before it could stand alone as a sentence.
- Step 3
Match the two ends
The comma in analyst, and calls marks where the title ends and the report's sentence picks up again. Which mark can open extra information closed by that comma? Extra information in the middle of a sentence needs matching marks, so a dash, colon, or semicolon can't open this description. The version Patel, adds the opening comma for the title. Choice C.