According to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, aloha ʻāina is 'a recognition, commitment, and practice sustaining the ea -or...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• According to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa,
  • aloha ʻāina is 'a recognition, commitment, and practice
    • sustaining the ea —or life breath'
      • between the Hawaiian people and their natural environments.
• The concept has been proudly embodied by(?) Native Hawaiians for generations,
  • contributing to the lush flora and renowned beauty of the islands.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence gives us context:

• According to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa,
  • This is the source of the definition
• aloha ʻāina is 'a recognition, commitment, and practice sustaining the ea —or life breath'
  • Aloha ʻāina is defined as a special relationship
  • It involves recognition, commitment, and practice
  • It sustains the "ea" (life breath)
• between the Hawaiian people and their natural environments
  • This relationship exists between people and nature

Now the second sentence tells us about how this concept has been lived:

• The concept has been proudly embodied by(?) Native Hawaiians for generations

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices:

• We need to decide what punctuation (if any) goes after "by"
• The choices give us: semicolon, colon, comma, or no punctuation

To see what works here, let's understand the complete structure:

• "The concept has been proudly embodied by Native Hawaiians for generations"
  • This is telling us WHO has embodied the concept
  • "by Native Hawaiians" is showing the agent - the people doing the embodying

What do we notice about the structure here?

• "by" is a preposition
  • It's connecting the action (embodied) to the people doing it (Native Hawaiians)
• "Native Hawaiians" is the object that follows the preposition
  • Together "by Native Hawaiians" forms a single unit - a prepositional phrase
• A preposition and its object should flow together naturally
  • They're like partners that shouldn't be separated
  • There's no natural pause between them

So we need no punctuation - just "by Native Hawaiians" flowing together as one phrase.

The correct answer is D.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Prepositions and Their Objects: When NOT to Use Punctuation

When a preposition (like "by," "for," "with," "to," "from") is followed by its object (the noun or noun phrase it connects to), they form a single unit called a prepositional phrase. This unit should flow together without any punctuation interrupting it:

Pattern: Preposition + Object = No punctuation between them

• Example 1: The book was written by Shakespeare
  • NOT: by, Shakespeare or by: Shakespeare
  • "by Shakespeare" is one prepositional phrase
• Example 2: She walked to the store
  • NOT: to, the store or to: the store
  • "to the store" is one prepositional phrase
• Example 3: The letter came from my cousin
  • NOT: from, my cousin or from: my cousin
  • "from my cousin" is one prepositional phrase

In our question:

• "embodied by Native Hawaiians" follows this exact pattern
• "by" (preposition) + "Native Hawaiians" (object) = one unit
• No punctuation should interrupt this natural flow