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A team of researchers studied the impact of a new type of fertilizer on crop yield. The researchers grew two groups of corn plants, one group that received the new fertilizer and one group that did not. The researchers found that the corn plants that received the new fertilizer grew significantly taller than those that did not. The researchers concluded that the new fertilizer increased crop yield.

SAT · English · previous-year question

  1. A.taller than those that did not; the researchers
  2. B.taller than those that did not, the researchers
  3. C.taller than those that did not. The researcherscorrect
  4. D.taller than those that did not; the researchers

Answer

C. taller than those that did not. The researchers

Explanation

The original sentence contains a comma splice, which is an error in Standard English. A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined together with only a comma. To correct the comma splice, we can either add a coordinating conjunction or separate the two clauses with a semicolon. In this case, the best way to revise the sentence is to replace the comma with a period and capitalize the first word of the next clause.

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