A punctuation question with a title and a name tests whether the name is essential or extra. Read the title and ask, does it identify someone without the name? If the name says which person, use no commas; if it adds a fact about someone already identified, use a pair in the middle. Then find the subject and its verb, even inside a longer description. A single comma can't separate them, no matter where you pause while reading.
Hints
- Hint 1
The blank gives the speaker for the quoted words. Read that smaller part on its own, rather than following the sentence all the way to its main verb.
- Hint 2
Check whether the title stands without the name. Cross the name out and read what remains between that and the quotation.
- Hint 3
Find the subject and verb in the words before the quotation. Then ask whether any comma there would set off extra information or split the subject from its verb.
Step-by-step
Test the name, then connect the verb
Step 1Find the speaker inside the description
The phrase an approach to research that starts a description of patience, so the blank belongs inside that description rather than beside the sentence's main verb. Who says the quoted words? The choices supply a title, mentor, a name, Glen Howard, and a verb, says, so those words tell us who makes the claim about patience. The punctuation needs two checks: whether the name says which mentor, and whether anything can separate that speaker from says.
- Step 2
Decide whether the name is essential
Does mentor identify the speaker without his name? Nothing before the title tells us which mentor it means, and without a or the, the title can't stand alone here. Cross out Glen Howard to check: an approach to research that would then continue with mentor says, which doesn't work because mentor still needs a name. The name is essential, meaning it says which mentor, so it stays attached to the title instead of being set off by commas.
- Step 3
Connect the subject to its verb
Can a comma come before says? Mentor Glen Howard is the subject, the person speaking, and says is his verb, while “allows the rocks to finish their sentences before you interrupt” gives the words he says. A single comma can't separate a subject from its verb, and nothing between the speaker's name and says needs to be set off. The version mentor Glen Howard says connects the speaker directly to his verb. Choice C.