16Hit1600
Standard English ConventionsHardColon before an explanatory noun phrase

Standard English Conventions practice question

Only one thing stood between the climbers and the ____ a wall of ice two hundred feet high.

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

  1. A. summit:Correct
  2. B. summit;
  3. C. summit,
  4. D. summit

Answer: A. summit:

A colon introduces the phrase that explains what the one thing was.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. summit;
A semicolon needs a complete sentence after it.
C. summit,
A comma would make the wall of ice an appositive for the summit.
D. summit
No separation between the sentence and its explanation.

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