A punctuation question with a pronoun after the blank tests whether a new sentence starts there. Split at the blank and test each side on its own. A full sentence can stand alone: it has a subject, who or what it’s about, and a main verb, what that subject does or is. Words like because make a part depend on another sentence. Two full sentences need a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a joining word like and, not a comma alone.
Hints
- Hint 1
Begin with the words before the blank. Find who scanned and uploaded the letters, then ask whether those words could form a full sentence once the missing noun is filled in.
- Hint 2
Read from she through the end and test whether those words can stand alone. Does that part say who did what, or does it need the earlier part to be a complete sentence?
Step-by-step
Split and test the join
Step 1Test the first part
Split after the noun that completes uploaded them to a shared _____ to check whether the blank separates full sentences. Can the first part stand alone? Elena Park is the subject, and scanned and uploaded are its main verbs. The first side is a full sentence.
- Step 2
Test the part starting with a pronoun
Does the part starting with she corrected stand alone too? The subject is she, and the main verb is corrected; the remaining words say what she corrected and when. The pronoun points back to Elena, but that doesn’t make the sentence incomplete. The second side is also a full sentence.
- Step 3
Check what the time word changes
The versions with later need the same test: can that time word join the sentences? In database later, it ends the first sentence, and in database, later, it sits between commas. In database later,, remove later. In database, later,, remove later and the comma after it. Both versions then leave only a comma between full sentences, as does database,. A comma alone makes a comma splice, which means it tries to join two full sentences without a joining word.
- Step 4
Join the full sentences
A semicolon can join two full sentences without a joining word, so the semicolon joins the two full sentences about Elena uploading and correcting the files. The version database; places that mark after the noun that finishes the first sentence. Choice B.