SAT Reading & Writing · Boundaries
A marine biologist who had spent thirty years studying a single coral reef system ______ she had witnessed nearly the entire recorded…
A marine biologist who had spent thirty years studying a single coral reef system ______ she had witnessed nearly the entire recorded history of the reef's decline.
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: reflected that
"Reflected that she had witnessed..." is a single, unified clause: the verb reflected takes the entire following statement as its object, with no interruption or boundary needed between them. No comma or colon belongs between a verb and the clause it directly introduces this way. A and C both insert a comma that treats "that she had witnessed..." as if it were a supplement that could be lifted out. It can't, since without it, "reflected" has no object and the sentence is incomplete. B's colon would require what precedes it to be a complete, self-sufficient sentence, but "a marine biologist... reflected" still needs its object to make sense.
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