A punctuation question with the same transition in every choice tests sentence endings and commas. Cover the transition, then test whether each side can stand alone. A semicolon can separate complete clauses, but a comma alone can’t, even with a transition. Use a comma after an introductory transition and paired commas around one that interrupts a clause. Then use meaning to place the transition: which clause does it link to what came before?
Hints
- Hint 1
Cover consequently and test whether each side can stand alone. Look for a subject and a main verb in the clause starting with “Researchers” and in the words after the blank.
- Hint 2
Ask about the link between toxic waste and removing it: which clause should consequently, meaning as a result, belong to?
- Hint 3
After testing each clause, check how consequently is set off from the words beside it.
Step-by-step
Cover, split, and place the transition
Step 1Find the complete clauses
Use ants, the noun shared by every choice, then cover consequently and split the text. For this punctuation question, can each side stand alone as a complete clause, a group of words with its own subject and main verb? The first side starts with Researchers studying this symbiosis have observed: Researchers is its subject, and have observed is its main verb. The second side, they remove it through a specialized ventilation system, has the subject they and main verb remove. Both sides can stand alone.
- Step 2
Remove the punctuation errors
What punctuation can separate the finding about the metabolic waste produced by the fungus from the ants’ response? These complete clauses need a period or a semicolon, because a transition can’t join them with a comma. The version with only a comma before consequently and the version with commas on both sides each leave a comma splice, which means two complete clauses joined by a comma alone.
- Step 3
Place the transition with the result
Does consequently fit at the start of they remove it? It means as a result, and the waste harms the ants, so removing it is their response to that danger. A semicolon separates the complete clauses, and a comma sets off consequently at the start of the second clause. Choice A.