A punctuation question with a transition tests whether you can tell where sentences end. Cover the transition, then find the possible sentence parts: a full sentence needs a subject, a main verb, and no word making it depend on another sentence. Two full sentences need a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a joining word like and. Read past the transition, because it may sit between a subject and its verb. Paired commas set off a transition but can't join two full sentences.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with the sentence about the provision. Find its subject and main verb, then decide which words finish that thought.
- Hint 2
After the blank, look for the subject of continued. Read across any extra words between that subject and its verb.
- Hint 3
Cover however and test the sentence parts. Where does each full sentence begin and end?
Step-by-step
Split the sentences, then place the transition
Step 1Finish the first sentence
Read through proposal: can those words stand alone? The provision satisfied several governors has a subject, provision, and a main verb, satisfied. The words about opposing an earlier version describe the governors, so they don't change that main verb. The first part is a full sentence.
- Step 2
Read across the transition
Who continued to insist? The subject in every choice is a bloc of legislators, and continued is its main verb. Cover however, and that subject connects straight to its verb: the legislators continued to insist that the rule be removed. The second part can stand alone, even though the transition sits between its subject and verb. The word however means in contrast, but unlike and, it can't join these sentences.
- Step 3
Test the misplaced or missing boundaries
Can a semicolon follow a bloc of legislators? It can't, because that cuts the subject off from its verb, continued to insist. The version with a comma after proposal and commas around however makes a comma splice, two full sentences joined only by commas. The version with no mark after proposal runs them together.
- Step 4
Put the boundary between the sentences
A semicolon works where a period would, so it belongs after proposal, between the two full sentences. Commas set off however inside the second sentence, before continued to insist, without ending the sentence between its subject and verb. Choice A.