A punctuation question with the same transition in every choice tests how you punctuate a word that links ideas. Cover the transition and check which parts can stand alone, keeping printed punctuation. Transitions cannot join sentences; periods or semicolons separate them, and colons follow full sentences to introduce explanations or lists. Use meaning to decide which sentence the transition belongs to. Set the transition off with a comma after it at the start, before it at the end, or on both sides inside.
Hints
- Hint 1
Cover however and check whether each side can stand alone. Look for a subject and a main verb in the historians’ claim and the residents’ response.
- Hint 2
Check the punctuation already printed before the blank. Then ask which sentence however belongs to and how it should be set off.
Step-by-step
Cover the transition and check the boundary
Step 1Find the two full sentences
Cover however and read the two parts without it. Can each part stand alone? The first says historians think parks are a luxury planners can't afford, while the second says residents cite green spaces’ health benefits when opposing new development. Both have a subject and a main verb, shown in Many historians contend and residents often cite. These are two full sentences, so they need a proper boundary between them.
- Step 2
Use the printed semicolon
The semicolon in planners cannot afford; is already printed before the blank. What does it do? A semicolon joins two full sentences, so the boundary is already in place before however. The version with a semicolon after however and the version with a colon after it would each add a second boundary immediately after the transition. That would leave however on its own with no subject or verb.
- Step 3
Set off the opening transition
Now ask which sentence however belongs to: it means but or despite that. Residents point to the mental and physical health benefits of green spaces, which challenges the historians’ view that parks are a luxury planners can't afford, so however introduces the residents’ response. A transition at the start of a sentence takes a comma after it, which separates the transition from residents often cite. The version however, adds that comma without adding another sentence boundary. Choice B.