Question 21

"I loved that show," he said, "It's my favorite of the year."

This sentence correctly uses punctuation and capitalization, as it properly capitalizes "It's" after a dialogue tag and appropriately uses commas to separate the dialogue.

A) "I loved that show," he said. "It's my favorite of the year."

This option is incorrect because it separates the two sentences with a period instead of a comma. The second part of the dialogue should remain connected to the first part, necessitating a comma before the second quotation.

B) "I loved that show," he said, "it's my favorite of the year."

This option is incorrect due to the lowercase "it's" following the dialogue tag. Since this clause is a complete sentence that follows directly after a quote, it should begin with a capital letter.

C) "I loved that show," he said; "it's my favorite of the year."

This option is incorrect because it improperly uses a semicolon to separate the two clauses. A semicolon indicates a stronger separation than what is appropriate in this context, where a comma should be used instead.

D) "I loved that show," he said, "It's my favorite of the year."

This option is correct as it appropriately uses a comma after the dialogue tag and capitalizes "It's" to indicate the beginning of a new independent clause, maintaining proper punctuation throughout.

Conclusion

Option D is definitively the correct choice as it adheres to the rules of punctuation and capitalization required in dialogue. All other options fail due to incorrect punctuation or capitalization, thereby demonstrating a misunderstanding of dialogue structure.