56. Which of the following revisions to the passage above most effectively corrects the punctuation error in sentence 2?
Answer: B
The student, investigating butterfly migration patterns for the research paper, asked if Ms. Smith knew anything about monarch butterflies.
This revision corrects the punctuation error by appropriately using commas to set off the participial phrase "investigating butterfly migration patterns for the research paper," thereby clarifying the main clause.
A) The student investigating butterfly migration patterns for the research paper asked if Ms. Smith knew anything about monarch butterflies.
This option lacks any punctuation adjustments. The absence of commas makes it unclear that the phrase "investigating butterfly migration patterns for the research paper" is a non-essential clause, which could lead to misinterpretation of the sentence structure.
B) The student, investigating butterfly migration patterns for the research paper, asked if Ms. Smith knew anything about monarch butterflies.
This option effectively corrects the punctuation error by employing commas to enclose the non-essential participial phrase. This enhances readability and clearly indicates that the phrase is additional information about the student.
C) The student investigating butterfly migration patterns for the research paper asked if Ms. Smith knew anything about monarch butterflies.
Similar to option A, this choice does not include any punctuation changes. The lack of commas fails to distinguish the additional descriptive information, resulting in a sentence that can be misread.
D) The student investigating butterfly migration patterns for the research paper; asked if Ms. Smith knew anything about monarch butterflies.
This option incorrectly uses a semicolon, which is not appropriate in this context. A semicolon suggests a stronger separation between clauses than what is warranted here, thus creating a grammatical error.
Conclusion
Option B is the only choice that correctly applies punctuation to clarify the sentence structure, making it the most effective revision. All other options either omit necessary punctuation or misuse it, leading to potential confusion in understanding the relationship between the clauses.