Select the sentence that is punctuated correctly.
Ruby emailed her instructor, a question, and he replied to her immediately.
Ruby emailed her instructor a question, and he replied to her immediately.
Ruby emailed her instructor a question and he replied to her immediately.
And you think it's ... ?
Just in case you are unclear on comma uses in American English, here's this webpage you can study:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/607/
To determine which sentence is punctuated correctly, let's analyze each option:
1. Ruby emailed her instructor, a question, and he replied to her immediately.
- This sentence includes a comma after "instructor" which separates the noun phrase "a question". However, it is not necessary to use a comma in this case. The inclusion of the comma is incorrect.
2. Ruby emailed her instructor a question, and he replied to her immediately.
- This sentence is correctly punctuated. It contains a proper combination of a main clause ("Ruby emailed her instructor a question") and a coordinating conjunction ("and") to introduce the second main clause ("he replied to her immediately").
3. Ruby emailed her instructor a question and he replied to her immediately.
- This sentence does not use any punctuation to separate the two main clauses. It is missing a coordinating conjunction or appropriate punctuation between the clauses, making it incorrect.
Out of the given options, option 2 "Ruby emailed her instructor a question, and he replied to her immediately" is the sentence that is punctuated correctly.