The following sentence may need a semicolon to separate independent clauses. Select the answer option that will make the sentence correct. If the original sentence is correct, select No change.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, perhaps the greatest invention of all time, following up on Bell’s invention, Theodore Newton Vail envisioned all parts of the country being linked by one telephone system.
Group of answer choices
No change
Replace the comma after telephone with a semicolon.
Replace the comma after time with a semicolon.
Replace the comma after telephone with a semicolon.
Replace the comma after telephone with a semicolon.
The correct answer is: Replace the comma after telephone with a semicolon.
To determine the correct answer, we need to identify the independent clauses in the sentence. An independent clause is a group of words that can stand alone as a complete sentence. In this case, the independent clauses are:
1. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, perhaps the greatest invention of all time.
2. Theodore Newton Vail envisioned all parts of the country being linked by one telephone system.
We need to use punctuation to separate these two independent clauses. The options are to use a semicolon or to use a comma with a coordinating conjunction (such as "and" or "but").
Using a semicolon after the word "telephone" will correctly separate the two independent clauses:
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, perhaps the greatest invention of all time; following up on Bell’s invention, Theodore Newton Vail envisioned all parts of the country being linked by one telephone system.
This makes the sentence grammatically correct.