SAT OwlBecause it is made almost entirely of sun-dried mud bricks, the Great Mosque of Djenné in Mali requires constant ______ every year, residents of the town gather for a festival to replaster its walls with fresh mud.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
upkeep,
upkeep
upkeep, which
upkeep.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D
The first sentence ends with "requires constant upkeep," and "every year, residents of the town gather..." is a new independent clause. A period correctly separates the two. A comma creates a comma splice, no punctuation creates a run-on, and "which" makes the second part ungrammatical.
Choice A creates a comma splice; the introductory phrase "every year" might make the comma look right, but "residents ... gather" is a separate independent clause.
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