A punctuation question about extra information tests whether you can separate the main sentence from an added description. Read around the blank to find where the description begins and ends, then cross it out to see whether a complete sentence remains. Extra information in the middle needs matching marks at both ends: two commas, two dashes, or paired parentheses. Check where each mark goes, because it must separate the description from the main sentence.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look for the style’s main verb among the words after the blank. Which verb tells what her style has done?
- Hint 2
Cross out the description beginning with which. What sentence remains, and what mark is already at the end of the words you removed?
Step-by-step
Find, cross out, and match
Step 1Read ahead to the comma
Read ahead to landscape, has influenced, where a comma sits before the words telling how the style has influenced architects. What could that comma be closing? The choices include which, which can introduce a description of a noun, so let's trace that description back to its start. The blank may start an added description, a piece of extra information that the existing comma closes.
- Step 2
Cross out the whole description
Where does the description start, and which verb belongs to it? Which introduces the words emphasizes simplicity and harmony with the surrounding landscape, so emphasizes goes with which, while has influenced is the style's main verb. Mentally cross out everything from which through landscape: her minimalist style has influenced a generation of architects. What remains is a complete sentence, so the description begins with which and ends before the style's main verb.
- Step 3
Match the opening mark
How do we start an added description that the text ends with a comma? A comma must come before which to start this description, because that word begins the whole description. The version style which, would cut which off from its verb, and style—which would mix a dash with a comma. The version style, which puts the matching comma at the start of the description. Choice C.