A question with punctuation and verb choices tests how the parts of a sentence fit together. Read the whole sentence to find the subject and its main verb, then check what each part does. Paired commas set off extra information inside a sentence; a colon needs a complete sentence before it, and a semicolon joins two complete sentences. If a choice adds a verb, check how it connects to the subject and any other verbs. Test each version against those rules.
Hints
- Hint 1
Find the verb that tells what the editorial mistake does. It's after the long description of the repeated chapter number.
- Hint 2
Read the words about the repetition. How do they connect to the words on either side?
- Hint 3
Check the punctuation and any added verb. Which groups of words can stand alone as sentences, and how does each version connect the words around the blank?
Step-by-step
Find the insert and match its ends
Step 1Find the mistake's main verb
The comma in In Sora Bell's novel, closes the opening phrase, so it doesn't open a pair of marks. What does the editorial mistake do? It ultimately signals that pages have been replaced, so signals is its main verb, the verb telling what the subject does. We need punctuation around the description between the mistake and this verb.
- Step 2
Cross out the description
What does the repetition of a chapter number across two incompatible accounts of one evening tell us about the mistake? It renames the mistake by spelling out what went wrong. Cross out that whole description, and the editorial mistake still signals that the narrator has been replacing pages. Since the sentence works without the description, it's an insert, extra information the sentence can do without.
- Step 3
Test the sentence breaks and added verb
The versions mistake: and mistake; both need a complete sentence before their marks. Do the words before the blank form one? No, because the mistake doesn't yet have ultimately signals, its main verb. And mistake is adds is even though signals already tells what the mistake does, leaving two main verbs without a word joining them.
- Step 4
Match the existing closing mark
The comma in evening, ultimately signals closes the insert. An insert inside a sentence needs matching marks at both ends, so the blank must open it with a comma. The version mistake, adds that opening comma without adding another verb. Choice B.