A punctuation question with a list tests how punctuation connects the list to the sentence. Read through the list, then check what can stand alone and what adds extra information. A semicolon joins complete sentences; a colon follows a complete sentence and introduces details. Paired commas or dashes set off extra information, while commas also separate list items or set off short comments. Check both sides of the blank to see which job each mark needs to do.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read past the blank through all the shower names. Look for the punctuation after the last name.
- Hint 2
Give each comma a job. Which commas belong to however, and which separate the shower names?
- Hint 3
Read without the list and its introductory word. Which words still belong to the sentence, and how do they fit together?
Step-by-step
Find the insert and match its marks
Step 1Read to the list’s far end
Read past the blank to Geminids—each capable. The choices change punctuation, so we need to find what that existing dash closes. What do the names add? They identify the eight showers mentioned earlier, so the names explain which events are considered major rather than make a new point.
- Step 2
Cross out the list
Can we remove namely and the names without breaking the sentence? Only eight of them, however, are considered still has the subject, eight, and the main verb, are considered, with major events completing the thought. The words each capable of producing more than 20 meteors per hour at its peak describe those same events; capable isn't a main verb, so those words don't start another sentence. That makes the list an insert within one sentence, extra information we can cross out.
- Step 3
Sort the commas
The commas in them, however, are considered set off however within the sentence. That pair is already complete, so it doesn't open the list of showers. The commas between the shower names separate items inside the insert, rather than mark where the whole insert ends.
- Step 4
Match the opening mark
Which mark belongs at the list’s start? In Geminids—each capable, the closing dash means a dash must open the insert too. The word namely means specifically, and a comma sets it off from the names it introduces. The version events—namely, adds both marks at the blank. Choice C.