Question 69·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Standard English Conventions
To produce a color print, nineteenth-century photographer Louis Ducos du Hauron exposed three separate negatives through red, green, and blue _____ each negative recorded only a portion of the visible spectrum, combining the three yielded a full-color image.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For boundary questions, identify every subject-verb unit before choosing punctuation. A unit beginning with a subordinating word such as “although” may still contain a main clause and function as a complete sentence unit. Then check that supplementary words such as “respectively” remain attached to the clause whose information they clarify.
Hints
Find the first clause
Determine whether the material describing what the photographer exposed can stand as a complete sentence.
Keep reading after “although”
A sentence unit that begins with a dependent clause can still be complete if it later contains a main clause.
Place “respectively” carefully
Consider which list correspondence this word explains and therefore which clause it should remain part of.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the first sentence unit
The text through “filters, respectively” is an independent clause: its subject is “Louis Ducos du Hauron,” and its verb is “exposed.” The word “respectively” connects the three negatives with the three filters and therefore belongs to this clause.
Analyze the remaining text
Although “although each negative recorded only a portion of the visible spectrum” is dependent, it is followed by the main clause “combining the three yielded a full-color image.” Together, these parts form a complete sentence unit.
Punctuate the boundary
A semicolon can separate the two complete sentence units. A comma before “respectively” correctly sets off that supplementary word at the end of the first clause.