Literary scholar Amara Voss’s study of memoir considers three works about artistic apprenticeship: the memoir The Mapmaker’s Daughter, Laila Noor’s recollection of translating her father’s ______ an account of drafting stories in an unheated attic; and the essay collection Borrowed Voices, an examination of imitation and influence.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For a series containing titles followed by descriptive phrases, first identify where each complete item begins and ends. Use semicolons between major items when those items contain internal commas, and use commas within each item to separate a title from its nonessential description.
Hints
Map the series
Identify each work and the descriptive phrase attached to it.
Distinguish the boundaries
Consider which punctuation should separate the main items when those items already contain commas.
Examine the second title
Determine how a title should be separated from a nonessential phrase that immediately describes it.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the three items
The series consists of three works: the memoir The Mapmaker’s Daughter, the novel Winter Rooms, and the essay collection Borrowed Voices. Each list item includes a title followed by an appositive description, so commas occur within the individual items.
Separate the major items
Because the individual items contain internal commas, semicolons are needed between the three main items. Therefore, a semicolon must follow “letters,” the final word of the first work’s description.
Set off the description
The phrase “an account of drafting stories in an unheated attic” describes the novel Winter Rooms. A comma must separate the title from this appositive description.