SAT Reading & Writing · Boundaries
The manuscript's final chapter ______ discovered in a locked drawer decades after the author's death, changed how critics understood the…
The manuscript's final chapter ______ discovered in a locked drawer decades after the author's death, changed how critics understood the novel's ending.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Answer and explanation
Answer: D: , only,
"Only discovered in a locked drawer decades after the author's death" is a supplement inserted between the subject and the main verb "changed," adding extra detail about the chapter without which the sentence's core meaning still holds. A supplement placed mid-sentence needs a comma on both sides. D supplies both. A and C each supply only one comma, leaving the boundary unbalanced. B supplies no punctuation at all, running the supplement directly into the surrounding sentence with no signal that an aside has begun.
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