In her analysis of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth (1905), scholar Candace Waid observes that the novel depicts the

Question

In her analysis of Edith Wharton&rsquo;s The House of Mirth (1905), scholar Candace Waid observes that the novel depicts the upper classes of California society as &ldquo;consumed by the appetite of a soulless ______ blank an apt assessment given that The House of Mirth is set during the Gilded Age, a period marked by rapid industrialization, economic greed, and widening wealth disparities. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Accepted Answer

Choice C is the best answer. The convention being tested is punctuation between a main clause and a supplementary noun phrase. This choice correctly uses a comma to mark the boundary between the main clause (&ldquo;scholar...materialism&rdquo;) and the supplementary noun phrase (&ldquo;an apt assessment&rdquo;) that describes Waid&rsquo;s observation about how The House of Mirth depicts the upper classes of California society. Choice A is incorrect because a semicolon and the conjunction &ldquo;and&rdquo; can&rsquo;t be used in this way to mark the boundary between a main clause and a supplementary noun phrase. Choice B is incorrect. Joining the main clause (&ldquo;scholar...materialism&rdquo;) and the following noun phrase with the conjunction &ldquo;and&rdquo; results in a confusing and illogical sentence that suggests that the novel depicts the upper classes of California society as &ldquo;an apt assessment,&rdquo; which doesn&rsquo;t make sense in this context. Choice D is incorrect because it fails to mark the boundary between the main clause and the supplementary noun phrase with appropriate punctuation.

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