Question #N611
The following text is adapted from a novel by the American writer James Baldwin. In the novel, a young man reflects on his relationship with his father: "I was a child of the city, and the city, which was a huge, chaotic, and indifferent organism, seemed to me as hostile as it was fascinating. My father had tried to teach me to read, had tried to teach me to respect the past, had tried to make me understand that the world was not merely a stage, that it was a prison. But I had not listened, and I had not learned. I was, I thought, too young to know."
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?Correct Answer is: A
Choice A is the best answer. The convention being tested is punctuation between a complete sentence and a modifying phrase. No punctuation is needed between a complete sentence and a modifying phrase. The modifying phrase, "I was, I thought, too young to know," is set off by a comma, which correctly signals that it modifies the preceding complete sentence.