OpenSAT

Question #N625

A study published in the journal Nature Communications suggests that people who have a high level of curiosity are more likely to engage in "purposeless" information-seeking behaviors: that is, seeking out information even when they know that they won’t benefit from it. This finding, the researchers say, supports the idea that curiosity is an intrinsic drive—a desire to acquire information for its own sake, rather than a means to an end. This finding, the researchers say, supports the idea that curiosity is an intrinsic drive—a desire to acquire information for its own sake, rather than a means to an end.

Which choice provides the best way to combine the sentences in the underlined portion without changing the meaning?

A. This finding, the researchers say, supports the idea that curiosity is an intrinsic drive, a desire to acquire information for its own sake, rather than a means to an end.

B. This finding, the researchers say, supports the idea that curiosity is an intrinsic drive, a desire to acquire information for its own sake, rather than a means to an end.

C. This finding, the researchers say, supports the idea that curiosity is an intrinsic drive, a desire to acquire information for its own sake rather than a means to an end.

D. This finding, the researchers say, supports the idea that curiosity is an intrinsic drive: a desire to acquire information for its own sake, rather than a means to an end.

Reveal Answer Go Back

Correct Answer is: C

The best way to combine the sentences is to remove the comma and the dash and replace them with the word “rather.” This is because no punctuation is needed between the preposition “for” and its complement, the noun phrase “its own sake.”