Question #N1381
A student is writing an essay about the history of the computer. The student wants to use a quotation from a famous computer scientist to support their argument. The quotation is: "The real power of computers lies not in their speed or memory but in their ability to communicate." The student wants to include the quotation in the essay, but they are unsure how to punctuate it. The student knows that they need to set off the quotation with quotation marks but is unsure of where to put a comma.
Which of the following is the best way to punctuate the quotation in the essay?Correct Answer is: A
The correct answer is A. The comma should be placed after the introductory phrase "The real power of computers lies not in their speed or memory," and before the independent clause "but in their ability to communicate." This is because the comma separates the introductory phrase from the main clause of the sentence. The other choices are incorrect because they either do not use a comma at all or place the comma in an incorrect location.