Question #N370
“The great thing about the Internet,” the speaker said, “is that you can access information from anywhere in the world at any time.”
Which choice most effectively combines the two sentences into a single sentence without changing the meaning?
A. “The great thing about the Internet,” the speaker said, “is that you can access information from anywhere in the world at any time.”
B. “The great thing about the Internet is that you can access information from anywhere in the world at any time,” the speaker said.
C. The great thing about the Internet, the speaker said, is that you can access information from anywhere in the world at any time.
D. The great thing about the Internet, the speaker said, is that you can access information from anywhere in the world at any time.
Correct Answer is: B
Choice B is the most effective combination because it places the speaker's statement in quotation marks and uses proper punctuation. Choice A incorrectly uses quotation marks around the entire sentence. Choice C uses a comma before “the speaker said,” which is incorrect because the sentence would then be a comma splice. Choice D uses a comma after “the speaker said,” which would be incorrect because the clause following “the speaker said” is an independent clause. An independent clause cannot be introduced with only a comma.