A joining question tests whether the words on each side of a blank can stand alone. Split at the blank and read each side to the end, even if it begins with a long added part. A word like because starts a clause that can't stand alone, so look for a full sentence later. A period or a semicolon can join two full sentences. A comma needs a coordinating conjunction, a word that links full sentences, to join them.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the sentence beginning with the shale fragment and test the first thought as a full sentence, using the word all the choices share.
- Hint 2
Read past the part about the feeding marks and look for a subject and verb later in the sentence.
- Hint 3
Does the second side include a complete sentence after the reason? Test the whole side, not the reason alone.
Step-by-step
Split and read to the end
Step 1Test the first side
Start with One shale fragment at first seemed and add unremarkable, which all the choices supply. Can that thought stand alone? The fragment is the subject, what the sentence is about, and seemed is the main verb, which says what the subject does or is. So we have a full sentence before the blank.
- Step 2
Read past the reason
The because part says that the feeding marks crossed leaf veins rather than following cracks in the shale. Does that make the whole second side a fragment, a group of words that can't stand alone? Read farther: Okafor ruled out damage has a subject, Okafor, and a main verb, ruled out. The reason comes first, but the sentence then tells us what Okafor did. The whole second side can stand alone, even though its opening reason cannot.
- Step 3
See what the later comma does
What does the existing comma do? In the shale, Okafor ruled out damage, it closes the opening reason before the main sentence begins. If we set that reason aside, we're left with one sentence about how the fragment seemed and another about what Okafor ruled out. The join is still needed at the blank, not at the comma inside the second sentence.
- Step 4
Join the full sentences
Two full sentences can be joined with a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction. A coordinating conjunction is a word that links full sentences. The choice unremarkable, but because has the comma and but at the blank, while because starts the reason within the second sentence. Choice B.