A punctuation question with repeated words in the choices tests where a sentence can take a break. First, test the sentence breaks: a period or semicolon needs a full sentence on each side, and a colon needs one before it. Then name the parts at the blank. A verb belongs with its object, the thing it acts on, with no mark separating them. Decide by how the parts fit together, not by where you'd pause.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start reading at “the community press.” Check whether the words before a possible break form a complete sentence.
- Hint 2
Find what the press will release, then ask what job those words do in the sentence.
Step-by-step
Test the breaks, then name the parts
Step 1Test the sentence breaks
Read the community press will with release added, since we're deciding whether a mark can follow that verb. Can those words stand alone? They still leave us asking what the press will release. A period needs full sentences on both sides, and a colon needs one before it, so the version with a period and the version with a colon stop too soon.
- Step 2
Find what the verb acts on
The words anthology of poems by local teenagers tell us what the press will release. That makes the anthology the object, the thing a verb acts on. The possible break falls between the verb and its object, rather than between two separate sentences.
- Step 3
Keep the verb and object together
Does a comma belong between those parts? No mark separates a verb from its object. The words anthology of poems finish the thought started by release, so a comma would cut off something the verb needs. Leaving out the mark gives release an, with the anthology attached to its verb. Choice C.