A question about word order and end marks tests whether you can spot a direct or reported question. Read the lead-in for how the question is introduced. A question asked directly takes a question mark; a statement reporting one takes a period. If a question word is the subject, the person or thing the verb tells us about, it comes before the verb. Check word order and punctuation together, because one can be right while the other is wrong.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at how the challenge is introduced in the words leading up to Who. Is it asked directly, or reported inside a statement?
- Hint 2
Find who the sentence is about. What job does Who do in the challenge, and how does that affect where its verb belongs?
Step-by-step
Check the question and its word order
Step 1Read how the challenge is introduced
Read through posed a challenge to the audience: Who, including the colon. Is Nguyen’s challenge asked directly, or is the sentence reporting what he wondered? The colon sets off the question itself, so we need a question mark at the end, not a period.
- Step 2
Find the subject
Now ask what Who stands for: it’s the person responsible for protecting the planet. That makes it the subject, the person the sentence is about. Does a question always move the verb ahead of its subject? When the question word itself is the subject, the verb comes after it, because we’re asking which person has that role.
- Step 3
Put the verb and description in order
To complete Who, put the verb is next, followed by responsible, which describes the person. Putting responsible first would leave a describing word where the verb belongs. That gives us is responsible with a question mark to finish Nguyen’s challenge. Choice D.