Investing in pure research ___ yields no immediate profit, can be hard to justify when a company is in financial difficulties.

__ who
__ which
__ , which
__ that

, which is would be correct?

Right.

The correct answer to complete the sentence would be ", which".

To determine the correct answer, we need to understand the function of the word in the sentence and the grammar rules that govern its usage. In this case, we are looking for a phrase that provides additional information about the subject "investing in pure research."

The phrase "which yields no immediate profit" is a relative clause that provides additional information about the subject. When a relative clause adds non-essential information to the sentence, it is set off by commas and introduced by "which". Therefore, the correct choice is ", which." This is known as a non-restrictive relative clause, meaning it is not necessary for the main understanding of the sentence but adds extra information.