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.
Three men were major players in the early packaged goods industry: W. K. Kellogg and C. W. Post produced cereal, and King Camp Gillette packaged safety razor blades.
Group of answer choices
Replace the colon after industry with a semicolon.
Replace the comma after cereal with a semicolon.
No change
No change
The correct answer is: Replace the colon after industry with a semicolon.
In this case, the correct option is to replace the colon after "industry" with a semicolon.
To determine the correct answer, we need to understand the function of a semicolon and a colon in a sentence.
A semicolon is used to separate two independent clauses that are closely related in meaning. An independent clause is a complete thought that can stand alone as a sentence.
A colon is used to introduce a list, explanation, or emphasis. It is often used before a list of items or examples.
In the given sentence, "Three men were major players in the early packaged goods industry" and "W. K. Kellogg and C. W. Post produced cereal, and King Camp Gillette packaged safety razor blades" are two independent clauses. They can both stand alone as separate sentences.
To join these two independent clauses, we need a punctuation mark that functions to separate independent clauses. Therefore, we should replace the colon after "industry" with a semicolon to correctly connect the two independent clauses.
So, the correct answer is: Replace the colon after "industry" with a semicolon.