16Hit1600
Standard English ConventionsVery hardDashes around a supplement that contains commas

Standard English Conventions practice question

Several cities ____ have adopted congestion pricing to reduce traffic.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  1. A. cities — London, Stockholm, and Singapore among them — haveCorrect
  2. B. cities, London, Stockholm, and Singapore among them, have
  3. C. cities — London, Stockholm, and Singapore among them, have
  4. D. cities: London, Stockholm, and Singapore among them — have

Answer: A. cities — London, Stockholm, and Singapore among them — have

The aside 'London, Stockholm, and Singapore among them' has commas inside it. Setting it off with more commas would make it impossible to tell where the aside begins and ends, so a matched pair of dashes is used instead.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. cities, London, Stockholm, and Singapore among them, have
With commas both inside and around the aside, the reader can't tell which commas mark the boundary and which separate the cities. That's exactly when dashes are needed.
C. cities — London, Stockholm, and Singapore among them, have
The aside opens with a dash but closes with a comma. The pair must match.
D. cities: London, Stockholm, and Singapore among them — have
A colon can't open an aside in the middle of a sentence — it introduces what follows and never gets 'closed'. Only a dash or comma pair can bracket an interruption.

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