Question 84·Hard·Form, Structure, and Sense
Designed to be both a practical treatise and a poetic reflection on natural history, _____ captivated nineteenth-century readers with its meticulous observations and lyrical prose.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For sentence-structure and Standard English convention questions, first identify the core sentence (its subject and main verb) and make sure the completed sentence remains a single clear, complete thought. Check that introductory phrases and modifiers clearly and logically describe the right noun that follows the comma. Then compare remaining choices for correct punctuation—especially commas around nonessential descriptions (appositives)—and eliminate any option that creates a fragment, a run-on, or a dangling modifier, even if its meaning seems close.
Hints
Identify what was "designed"
Look at the opening phrase: "Designed to be both a practical treatise and a poetic reflection on natural history." What thing (person, book, or something else) logically could have been designed this way? That thing needs to appear right after the comma.
Check for sentence completeness
When you plug each option into the blank, ask: Do I end up with exactly one clear main subject and main verb, and does the sentence stand alone as a complete thought? Be wary of options that add extra verbs or subordinating words like "while."
Look closely at the commas around the description
Two of the choices give both the book’s title and a description of it. Compare where the commas are placed. Does the descriptive phrase get enclosed by commas, or is there only one comma before or after it?
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the sentence structure
The core of the sentence (after the blank) is:
"___ captivated nineteenth-century readers with its meticulous observations and lyrical prose."
So the blank must be a noun phrase (the subject) that directly connects to the verb "captivated". Also, the introductory phrase "Designed to be both a practical treatise and a poetic reflection on natural history," must logically describe that subject (the thing that was designed).
Eliminate choices that make the subject wrong or create modifier problems
Check which choices cause the introductory phrase to modify the wrong thing:
- If the blank begins with "Henry Armitage wrote...", then the sentence reads as if Henry Armitage was "designed to be both a practical treatise and a poetic reflection," which is illogical. This is a dangling modifier, so that choice is wrong.
- If the blank begins with "While Henry Armitage’s celebrated field guide...", then "while" introduces a dependent clause that never gets completed by a clear main clause. That makes the entire sentence a fragment, so that choice is also wrong.
This leaves only the choices that are simple noun phrases referring to the book.
Compare the remaining noun-phrase choices for correct comma use
The remaining options both name the same book and its description but in different orders and with different commas.
We need a structure where:
- The subject is the book.
- The extra description (that it is Henry Armitage’s celebrated field guide) is set off by commas as a nonessential appositive.
So the pattern we want is effectively:
"[Book title], [descriptive phrase], captivated..."
A choice that instead does "[descriptive phrase], [book title] captivated..." without closing the description with a second comma misuses appositive commas and is not standard.
Select the answer that matches the correct pattern
Only "The Naturalist’s Companion, Henry Armitage’s celebrated field guide," places the book title as the main subject and sets off the descriptive phrase with commas on both sides:
"Designed to be both a practical treatise and a poetic reflection on natural history, The Naturalist’s Companion, Henry Armitage’s celebrated field guide, captivated nineteenth-century readers with its meticulous observations and lyrical prose."
This is a complete, clear, and properly punctuated sentence, so the correct answer is The Naturalist’s Companion, Henry Armitage’s celebrated field guide, (Choice C).