A question about word order and end punctuation tests whether the writer asks directly or reports a question. Read the sentence containing the blank and check how the question is introduced. When asking about something other than the subject, direct questions put a verb before the subject; reported questions keep the subject first. Direct questions end with a question mark, while reported questions follow the whole sentence's punctuation. For linked questions, test both parts for word order and punctuation.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the sentence beginning with How. Is the writer asking the question directly or reporting a question someone asked?
- Hint 2
Compare the parts joined by and. What word order does the part beginning with How use, and how should the whole sentence end?
Step-by-step
Follow the question's word order
Step 1Identify how the question is asked
Read How can the bus's lifetime emissions be measured, which begins the sentence we're completing. Is it asking directly or telling us what someone asked? The writer is asking how to measure the emissions, so this is a direct question. That means we need question word order and a question mark, not the order and punctuation of a statement.
- Step 2
Match the linked question's order
What does and where add? It joins a second question to the first, rather than starting a statement. The order in can the bus's lifetime emissions puts the verb before the subject, the thing being asked about. The second question needs that same order, because both parts are asked directly.
- Step 3
Use question order and punctuation
Which ending completes and where with both question order and a question mark? In can the largest reductions be made?, the verb can comes before the subject, the largest reductions. Its question mark closes the whole sentence, covering both questions. Choice B.