PSAT Writing and Language Question 314: Answer and Explanation

Question: 314

• A. NO CHANGE
• B. lived, in
• C. lived, in,
• D. lived: in

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:

Punctuation is changing in the answer choices, so this question is testing STOP, HALF-STOP, and GO punctuation. Use the Vertical Line Test and identify the ideas as complete or incomplete. Draw the vertical line between the words lived and in. The first part of the sentence, In the 1960s, a woman named Marie Van Brittan Brown lived, is a complete idea. The second part, in Queens, New York, where she worked as a nurse, is an incomplete idea. To connect a complete idea to an incomplete idea, HALF-STOP or GO punctuation is needed. Notice that each answer choice either uses HALF-STOP or GO punctuation, so consider the relationship between ideas and whether the point of punctuation interrupts a thought. The phrase lived in Queens is a continuous thought, so it does not need to be interrupted with a punctuation mark. Keep (A) because it does not use a punctuation mark. Eliminate (B), (C), and (D) because each uses a punctuation mark between lived and in. The correct answer is (A).