Question the-el
The element carbon has the highest melting point blank all the elements on the periodic table—3,500 degrees Celsius.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
of
of—
of,
of:
The element carbon has the highest melting point ______ blank all the elements on the periodic
Easy-difficulty · SAT Reading & Writing · Boundaries — Colon for explanation or list. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
Choice A is the best answer. The convention being tested is punctuation use between a preposition and its complement. No punctuation is needed between the preposition "of" and its complement "all the elements on the periodic table." The complement completes the meaning of the preposition in the phrase "the highest melting point of all the elements on the periodic table," and using punctuation to separate the complement from the preposition results in an ungrammatical sentence.
Choice B is incorrect because no punctuation is needed between the preposition and its complement. Choice C is incorrect because no punctuation is needed between the preposition and its complement. Choice D is incorrect because no punctuation is needed between the preposition and its complement.
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