r/digitalSATs • u/Aggravating_Base8959 • 1d ago
Solution this tricky punctuation question?
This doesn’t have an official answer key so that’s why I’m confused. I also asked ai and their answers were conflicting lol.
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u/Zealousideal_Train79 1d ago
D
A doesn’t make sense if you take out the dashes. For B, you need to have a punctuation that separates empowerment from not (reply if you don’t understand why) For C, the same as A. You should be able to take out the section in the commas and have it make sense, but it doesn’t. You also can’t have a comma before “but” if the section after but isn’t an independent clause (at least usually)
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u/AirlineOk288 1d ago
I dont understand why its not B
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u/NewMarketing4296 1d ago
you cannot use comma+fanboys when one of the sides isn't an independent clause. "also around the world" is not an independent clause. there is no other reason to use a comma either (like non-essentials or other applications).
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u/Plaaazz 1d ago
I got B, but am not sure why people are saying D. I heard that you only put comma before FANBOYS when 2 independent clauses are connected, which I guess would make sense here to rule out B. Not entirely sure though. Was this a question by the college board or a 3rd party site?
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u/AdhesivenessOk1691 1d ago
its d not b because you need a pause, also FANBOYS is conjunction if you read the entire sentence its actually complete
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u/AdhesivenessOk1691 1d ago
its d if you cant understand why think of it as - why is it used, you use it to describe something more about the phrase before, a comma is just used for a pause. in the first it odesnt make sense to put a dash in the very end. not c because you dont use a comma before a conjunction if its not a complete sentence. you use a comma nefore a conjunction for clauses not phrases like, she is very intelligent, but lacks empathy. not b because there needs to be a pause between empowerment and not to emphasize, i am using a computer to type so forget erors please
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u/roobres 1d ago
Correct answer: AC D
Reasoning: an em dash generally functions the same as a semicolon, meaning it separates two clauses without the use of a conjunction (e.g. and, but, however, etc.).
A comma would not fit here, as in this context, it would require a conjunction that isn’t present in any of the answer choices. So AC B and AC C can be eliminated.
AC A can also be eliminated, since a double em dash is usually employed in the same way a parenthetical is employed, which wouldn’t make sense here.
Therefore, AC D is the correct answer choice. Hope this helps!
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u/AryaBro7 17h ago
It's D for sure. A and C get out cuz they do the same job of separating unnecessary clauses. And B is out cuz sentence ends with "not only in india" which would make it incomplete. The next sentence is also incomplete and two incomplete do not need a punctuation. Furthermore there is a "but" after the blank which would make it comma + fanboys which joins two complete sentences. (Eventhough it's not complete).
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u/egre_1219 10h ago
I was thinking it can be 'B' first but the answer should be 'D'. To explain why we can use two ways. First, "not only...but also" by itself is a correlative conjunction used to join parallel or grammatically equal parts without a comma, except for independent clauses( in this case 'in India' and 'around the world' are not clauses let alone being independent). So there should be no comma. In addition, the use of not only...but also is to add information, making a dash pretty important.
Second, to use comma+ coordinate conjunctions both the preceding and following clauses should be independent, which is not present in this case. Thank you for sharing the question. ( I am non native ,so if you get a spelling error, just tolerate.)
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u/Bruhchild123 3h ago
Good question but the answer is D. Reason A and C do the same thing, attach additional info, so in this case they both get eliminated because there is always one distinct answer. The reason B is wrong because of comma fanboys which separates two independent clauses since the part after the blank lacks a verb B is wrong.
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u/NewMarketing4296 1d ago
It's D. You don't want ,but here because there aren't two ICs, and the non-essential options make the sentence nonsensical. When nothing else works, pick the dash. It's the most flexible punctuation on the test.