Question englis
English poet and Shakespeare contemporary John Donne’s blank much admired during his lifetime (1572–1631) and in the decades that followed, had, at the time of their enthusiastic rediscovery by the early twentieth-century modernists, been essentially gathering dust for the intervening 250 years.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
works were
works, were
works,
works had been
English poet and Shakespeare contemporary John Donne’s ______ blank much admired during his lifetime (1572-1631)
Hard-difficulty · SAT Reading & Writing · Boundaries — Parenthetical punctuation: commas, dashes, parentheses. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
Choice C is the best answer. The convention being tested is the use of punctuation and verb forms within a sentence. This choice leaves the verb "admired" in its nonfinite past participle form to function within a supplementary element ("much…followed"). Offset by commas after "works" and "followed," this supplementary element interrupts the main clause ("English poet and Shakespeare contemporary John Donne’s works…had…been essentially gathering dust…") with additional information about the works’ reception during Donne’s lifetime.
Choice A is incorrect because it fails to offset the supplementary element ("much…followed") with appropriate punctuation, and using the finite verb "were much admired" results in an ungrammatical sentence. Choice B is incorrect because using the finite verb "were much admired" results in an ungrammatical sentence. Choice D is incorrect because it fails to offset the supplementary element ("much…followed") with appropriate punctuation, and using the finite verb "had been much admired" results in an ungrammatical sentence.
More Boundaries practice questions
- Award-winning cinematographer James Wong Howe was known for his innovative filming
- Dr. Rocío Paola Caballero-Gill is a paleoceanographer. This means that Dr.
- Nigerian American artist Toyin Ojih Odutola uses black-ink pens to create highly detailed
- The city of Pompeii, which was buried in ash following the eruption of Mount
- Eli Eisenberg, a genetics expert at Tel Aviv University in Israel, recently discovered
- By the time Hawaiian king Kamehameha IIwe ______ blank the throne, the number of
- Why are Rome’s famous concrete structures, such as the Colosseum, still standing
- In 1637, the price of tulips skyrocketed in Amsterdam, with single bulbs of rare
Browse all Expression of Ideas practice questions or return to the full SAT question bank.