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.
Thomas Newcomen (1663–1729) and James Watt (1736–1819) developed the steam engine. Many years later, George Stephenson (1781–1848) used a steam engine in a vehicle that rode on iron rails.
Group of answer choices
Replace the comma after later with a semicolon.
Put a semicolon after vehicle.
No change
No change.
Replace the comma after later with a semicolon.
To determine which answer option will make the sentence correct, we need to identify whether the two clauses mentioned in the sentence are independent or dependent. Independent clauses can stand alone as complete sentences, while dependent clauses cannot.
The first clause, "Thomas Newcomen (1663–1729) and James Watt (1736–1819) developed the steam engine," is an independent clause because it can function as a complete sentence on its own.
The second clause, "Many years later, George Stephenson (1781–1848) used a steam engine in a vehicle that rode on iron rails," is also an independent clause because it can also stand alone as a complete sentence.
Therefore, considering the given options:
- Replace the comma after "later" with a semicolon: This option would correctly separate the two independent clauses with a semicolon, creating a grammatically correct sentence.
- Put a semicolon after "vehicle": This option would not accurately separate the independent clauses because the word "vehicle" is not a suitable point to divide them.
- No change: This option does not use any punctuation to separate the independent clauses, resulting in a grammatically incorrect sentence.
Hence, the correct answer is: Replace the comma after "later" with a semicolon.