SAT Boundaries Question

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Question 1 · Hard · Reading and WritingJune 2024 Batch 1 · Q18Boundaries · 0 solved

Butterfly is a 1988 painting by the Japanese artist Ay-O. Like many of Ay-O's paintings, Butterfly, which portrays a swimmer performing the butterfly stroke, attempts to make use of the entire visual light sporting rainbow-striped goggles, the rainbow-hued swimmer splashes through a wavy rainbow of water. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

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Strategy

Decide whether the words before the blank form a complete sentence and what the words after the blank do. If the second part explains, illustrates, or expands on the first, use punctuation that introduces an explanation. Avoid using a comma to join two independent clauses or creating a modifier that attaches to the wrong noun.

Hints (open one at a time)

Hint 1

Identify whether the text before the blank is a full, stand-alone clause.

Hint 2

Ask what the material after the blank is doing—does it explain or illustrate the idea just stated?

Hint 3

Choose punctuation that separates two full ideas and introduces an explanation, rather than a mere pause or conjunction that would create a comma splice.

Step-by-step Explanation

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The trap here

The SAT colon rule: the part that matters is BEFORE the colon — Students check what follows the colon. The SAT checks what precedes it — it must be a complete sentence.