A list punctuation question with two places to check tests whether you can separate whole items from details inside them. First, find where each item ends, then copy the separator already used elsewhere in the list. Commas separate simple items; semicolons separate items that contain their own commas. Inside an item, cross out a renaming phrase; if the item still works, a comma sets off that extra detail. Wrong choices mix up the marks inside items and between items.
Hints
- Hint 1
Find the three whole list items. Where does the leaves item end and the roots item begin?
- Hint 2
Look ahead for the list's existing separator. What mark sits between the roots item and the stomata item?
- Hint 3
Cross out the description within the leaves item. Does the item still work, and where does that description end?
Step-by-step
Separate items from extra details
Step 1Find the two punctuation jobs
The colon in cataloged three promising adaptations: already introduces a list, so we need to decide which marks belong within that list. Where do its items start? The passage begins with leaves covered in, then moves to roots, and ends with stomata. Since each choice adds words to the leaves item before roots begins, we're checking a mark within the first item and a mark between items.
- Step 2
Copy the list's separator
What already separates the roots item from the stomata item? In absorbing water from brief showers; and stomata, the semicolon comes at the end of the roots item, while the comma in surface, absorbing water stays inside that item. Semicolons separate list items when an item contains a comma, so we copy the existing separator where the leaves item ends. That mark goes after sunlight, because the words through sunlight all belong to the leaves item. The word roots starts the next one.
- Step 3
Set off the renaming phrase
What does tiny hairs that reflect sunlight add to the leaves item? It tells us what trichomes are, so it's a renaming phrase, extra information about the covering on the leaves. Cross it out and the first item still works as leaves covered in trichomes, which means a comma must set off the extra description after trichomes. The description runs to the end of the first item, so the semicolon also marks its end; we don't need another comma before that semicolon. Choice D.