A punctuation question with however in every choice tests how you connect sentences. However means but, so cover it and split to check whether each side can stand alone. A semicolon needs two full sentences; a colon needs a full sentence followed by an explanation. Find which sentence goes against an earlier idea, then set however off from that sentence with a comma. Commas alone can't join two full sentences, even with however between them.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with the sentence about close inspection. Cover however and test each side as a sentence, using the words shared by every choice.
- Hint 2
However means but, so look for which ideas in the passage go against each other. Include the opening sentence in your check.
- Hint 3
How does the description of the blue and orange marks relate to what close inspection shows?
Step-by-step
Cover, split, and place the transition
Step 1Find the full sentences
Cover however and use the words shared by every choice to complete both sides. Can each side stand alone? In Close inspection points to a more complex process, inspection is the subject and points is the main verb. The next side has the gray as its subject and is produced as its main verb, so we have two full sentences.
- Step 2
Check the comma versions
What separates the sentences in the comma versions? The wording process however, lacks a comma to set off however and has no proper sentence boundary. The version with process, however, sets the transition off but leaves a comma splice, two full sentences joined only by a comma. Adding however can't fix that boundary.
- Step 3
Find where the contrast belongs
However means but, so where does the turn happen? Try it at the start of the sentence about how the gray is made. Interlaced blue and orange marks explain the more complex process rather than go against it. The contrast is between the appearance of diluted black ink and what Close inspection points to, so however belongs at the end of the claim about a complex process.
- Step 4
Introduce the explanation
A comma sets however off at the end of the claim. What introduces the explanation of the more complex process? A colon follows the complete claim and introduces its explanation. The version with process; however: leaves only however before the colon, and that word isn't a full sentence. Choice C.