A question about commas around names tests whether the names identify people or add extra information. Read the words around the blank and ask: Does the title already say who? Names that say which people take no commas; extra names inside a sentence take a pair. Give each comma a job, because a comma ending an opening phrase may belong to that phrase, not the names. Also, two names joined by and don’t need a comma between them.
Hints
- Hint 1
The passage begins with “According to” and already has a comma after the blank. What is the job of that printed comma?
- Hint 2
Ask whether the title alone says which people are meant. Use the sentence’s words, not what you know about the people named.
- Hint 3
Check how the two names are joined. Does the number of names affect where a comma can go?
Step-by-step
Give each comma its job
Step 1Find where the opening phrase ends
The words According to open a phrase telling us who gives the view, while the rest of the sentence begins with the rise of plant-based cuisine. Where does that opening phrase end? The comma already after the blank separates it from the rest of the sentence, so that comma ends the opening phrase. To complete the sentence, we're deciding which commas, if any, belong inside that opening phrase.
- Step 2
Decide whether the names are essential
Does chefs already say which people the writer means? Nothing before that title limits it to these two people, so Massimo Bottura and Dominique Crenn tell us which chefs are meant. Let's test that by crossing out the names: the opening would read According to chefs, which points to chefs in general rather than these named people. The names are essential, meaning they say which chefs, so no commas separate them from the title.
- Step 3
Check the pair of names
Within the According to phrase, we also have two names joined by and. Does that pair itself need a comma? Two names joined by and take no comma between them, so Bottura, and and and, Dominique Crenn both break up the pair. The version with no commas inside the blank leaves the two names joined without a break. Choice A.