Question 13

When the wild horses cross the Lower Salt River, they often travel in a line; the horses are more cautious when they have foals to protect.

This option effectively combines dependent and independent clauses. It begins with a dependent clause followed by an independent clause, creating a clear and coherent sentence structure.

A) When the wild horses have foals to protect, they often travel in a line; the horses are more cautious when they cross the Lower Salt River.

This option incorrectly places the independent clause after a semicolon, which should only connect independent clauses. The first part is a dependent clause, and therefore, it does not correctly combine the clauses in a grammatically appropriate manner.

B) When the wild horses cross the Lower Salt River, they often travel in a line; the horses are more cautious when they have foals to protect.

This option correctly combines a dependent clause ("When the wild horses cross the Lower Salt River") with an independent clause ("they often travel in a line") and follows with another independent clause after a semicolon. This structure adheres to the rules of sentence construction.

C) They often travel in a line when the wild horses cross the Lower Salt River, the horses are more cautious when they have foals to protect.

This option incorrectly uses a comma to separate two independent clauses, which creates a comma splice. Each part can stand alone as a complete sentence, thus failing to combine the clauses correctly.

D) They often travel in a line when the wild horses cross the Lower Salt River, and when they have foals to protect, they are more cautious.

Although this option contains dependent and independent clauses, the initial clause is followed by a comma instead of a conjunction or semicolon, which does not provide the proper connection between the ideas. The structure is somewhat convoluted, making it less clear than option B.

Conclusion

Option B is definitively correct as it properly combines dependent and independent clauses using appropriate punctuation and structure. The other options fail due to improper conjunctions, comma splices, or misplacement of clauses, which disrupts the clarity and grammatical integrity of the sentences.