SAT OwlIn her 2014 novel Station Eleven, ______ imagines a traveling troupe of actors and musicians who perform Shakespeare's plays in small towns years after a pandemic has collapsed modern civilization.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
author Emily St. John Mandel
author, Emily St. John Mandel,
author, Emily St. John Mandel
author Emily St. John Mandel,
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
"Author" works as a descriptive title directly in front of the name, so "author Emily St. John Mandel" is a single unit and the subject of "imagines." No commas belong around the name. Putting commas around it would make "author" the subject and the name an interruption, which doesn't work here.
Choice B looks like a correctly punctuated appositive, but a title like "author" placed directly before a name should not be separated from it by commas.
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