A punctuation question with words after the blank tests how the ending connects to the sentence. Look for each side's subject and main verb, then test whether it can stand alone. A semicolon needs full sentences on both sides; a comma plus and can join full sentences too. At the end, a comma can attach extra information that can't stand alone; no mark connects words that finish the main idea. Ask whether the ending renames something already said, rather than going by a pause.
Hints
- Hint 1
Split the text at the blank and check whether each side can stand alone. Pay attention to which word kept goes with.
- Hint 2
Try the cross-out test on the ending about the decision. Does the part about the hikers still work as a full sentence?
Step-by-step
Test the ending
Step 1Check the words before the blank
In the hikers decided to descend, hikers is the subject, and decided is the main verb, which tells what they did. With early added, these words can stand alone. This punctuation question asks how the ending attaches to that full sentence.
- Step 2
Find what the ending adds
What does decision that ultimately kept them safe add, and can it stand alone? It gives another name to the hikers' choice to descend early. Although kept is a verb, it belongs to the description beginning with that. That leaves decision with no main verb of its own, so the ending isn't a full sentence.
- Step 3
Set off the extra information
Cross out decision that ultimately kept them safe, along with a, and the sentence about the hikers still works. The ending gives extra information the sentence could do without. This added detail needs a comma before it, because the final period marks its other end. The version early, a adds that comma. Choice A.