A list punctuation question tests whether you can separate whole items from details inside them. When the choices change more than one mark, read through the list and find where each whole item begins and ends. Check for commas inside each item: if any item has one, separate the items with semicolons; otherwise, use commas. Then check every changed mark, because fixing one break won't fix a different break in the same list.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start at the colon after the words about three examples. Group each device with the words that describe it.
- Hint 2
Look at the commas after the device names in the passage. Are those commas separating different devices, or attaching descriptions to the devices?
- Hint 3
The blank covers more than one break between examples. Check every break, using the commas inside the examples to decide how to separate whole items.
Step-by-step
Separate whole items from their descriptions
Step 1Find how the list is built
The words three examples: tell us a list is beginning, so this punctuation question asks us to keep the examples separate. How is an example built? In a thunder run, a wooden channel, the device name comes first and a comma introduces its description. The thunder run and its description are one item, not two items, and that description continues through the words about the iron balls.
- Step 2
Locate both breaks between items
Where are the breaks between whole items? The first description runs through down which iron balls were and ends with rolled, which begins every choice. The inserted text then names a wind machine and describes it as a hand-cranked device, ending with a rushing sound. The passage's and a rain box starts the final example. So there are two breaks to check: after rolled and after sound; the comma after a wind machine belongs inside that item, not between devices.
- Step 3
Choose the separator for both breaks
What should mark both breaks between devices? When any list item contains a comma, semicolons separate the whole items. The comma in a rain box, a rotating container attaches the rain box's description, so a comma at either item break would blur the difference between a new device and a description. The version with semicolons after both rolled and sound marks the two breaks while keeping each device with its description. Choice C.