Question 150·Hard·Form, Structure, and Sense
Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector’s first book, _____ under a pseudonym to circumvent her family’s reservations, garnered praise that foreshadowed her later international acclaim.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For sentence-completion questions testing Standard English conventions, first strip the sentence down to its core (subject–verb–object) to see how the underlined or blanked portion fits grammatically. Identify what the phrase around the blank is doing—modifying a noun, joining two clauses, indicating time, etc.—and then decide whether you need a full clause, a participial phrase, or another structure. Check tense and logic: ask who is doing the action and when it happens relative to the main verb. Finally, plug each option into the sentence and quickly reject any that make the sentence ungrammatical, change the meaning so it is illogical, or disrupt the intended time frame.
Hints
Look at the commas
Notice that the blank is inside a phrase set off by commas. That whole phrase must be extra information describing "Clarice Lispector’s first book." Ask yourself what kind of phrase usually appears after a noun and a comma to describe it.
Think about who is doing the action
In the phrase with the blank, who would logically be doing the action of publishing—Clarice Lispector or the book itself? Make sure the verb form you choose does not accidentally make the book sound like it is doing the action.
Match the time of events
The book "garnered praise" in the past. The action in the blank also happened in the past, before or as the book received that praise. Choose a verb form that shows a completed action, not an ongoing or present action.
Check for complete vs. reduced clauses
Decide whether the phrase in the commas should be a full clause (with its own clear subject and tense) or a shortened descriptive phrase attached to "book." Eliminate any option that makes the structure awkward, ungrammatical, or changes the meaning so that the book seems to be acting on its own.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the blank is describing
Look at the core of the sentence without the phrase between commas:
"Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector’s first book, _____ under a pseudonym to circumvent her family’s reservations, garnered praise that foreshadowed her later international acclaim."
The phrase with the blank is set off by commas and is extra information describing "Clarice Lispector’s first book." So the word in the blank must fit into a descriptive phrase that modifies "book."
Recognize the type of phrase needed
A noun followed by a comma and then a describing phrase often uses a reduced relative clause or a participial phrase. For example:
- "The novel, written in secret, became famous." (reduced from "which was written in secret")
Here, the structure is similar: "book, ____ under a pseudonym, garnered praise." So we expect something like "[which was] ___ under a pseudonym," where the missing word acts like an adjective describing the book via a completed action.
Check the verb form and time relationship
The book already existed and then "garnered praise" later. The phrase in the blank should show an action that happened to the book in the past (it was put out under a pseudonym). That means we want a past, completed form of the verb that can function as an adjective describing "book," not a present, ongoing action and not a full new clause with its own subject and verb.
Test each option for grammar and meaning
Now test each choice in the sentence:
- "book, publishing under a pseudonym, garnered..." suggests the book is doing the publishing right now, which is illogical and the wrong time frame.
- "book, which publishes under a pseudonym, garnered..." is a full clause, but again suggests the book itself is actively publishing, and it uses present tense, not a completed past action.
- "book, publishes under a pseudonym, garnered..." makes the sentence ungrammatical (a stray comma before a main verb and odd meaning: a book cannot publish).
- The remaining option correctly forms a reduced clause meaning "book, which was ___ under a pseudonym, garnered praise," describing a past action done to the book.
The choice that works is published.